A Bit Different From Facing Voldemort
by ThatSinkingFeeling45
Summary: Hermione has been cornered by a mountain troll, petrified by a basilisk, and broken into Gringotts escaping on the back of a dragon, but none of that could have prepared her for Parvati Patil. Multi-chapter Sequel to Like When We Die. Femmeslash.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. As always I am taking Rowling's characters and doing things with them she would never put in a children's book.**

**Femmeslash so if you don't like it don't read.**

**Reviews are always appreciated and I have already written a good part of the story so updates will hopefully be swift. The first chapter is gonna be the shortest so just bare with me. It's a sequel to Like When We Die. Shortly after I finished that oneshot I decided Parvati and Hermione are just too hot to not keep writing about, so here comes the chapters. Enjoy.**

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><p>Hermione turned on her side pulling her lover with her and pushing her body against hers. Parvati let out a low moan in satisfaction letting her fingers trace Hermione's stomach and back beneath her shirt. Hermione shuddered in response kissing her exposed neck as she started undoing the knots of her lovers traveling cloak.<p>

"Missed me?" Parvati asked breathily as Hermione continued assaulting her collarbone with kisses. She threw her head back as Hermione nibbled on her neck.

"You have no idea," she growled.

Hermione was in the process of pulling Parvati's shirt over her head when she heard a knock on the door that made her jump off Parvati quicker than a hippogriff would slash a disrespectful wizard with it's talons.

"Hey Hermione, it's me," came Ginny's voice from the other side of the locked door.

"Shit," Hermione cursed under her breath. "Parvati, put your shirt back on," she whispered urgently.

Parvati scowled. "You took it off, you put it back on," Parvati replied sorely making no attempt to keep her voice down.

"Just give me a minute," Hermione said loudly to Ginny. She stopped a moment just gathering her thoughts before she turned around to face Parvati. She was lying down on Hermione's temporary bed at the burrow with her head and chest slightly elevated supported by her elbows. It took a generous amount of self control for Hermione to keep from moaning.

Parvati looked beautiful, even more so than usual since it had been a couple weeks since Hermione had seen her. Between her new internship at the ministry and helping Ginny with her wedding preparations as the duties of maid of honor required, her schedule was filled to the brim. This was the first time in what seemed an eternity Hermione had a chance to be intimate with her and it resulted in Ginny knocking on the door interrupting them causing Hermione to freak out and Parvati to become angry that (once again) Hermione was pulling all the stops to keep their relationship a secret.

Hermione pulled her eyes away from Parvati feeling guilty as she did so, noticing Parvati was wearing the same lacy red bra she had worn on their first encounter. A favorite of Hermione's that Parvati had undoubtedly worn just for her. Hermione's eyes went to the traveling cloak and the shirt which had been hastily thrown on the floor moments ago. Hermione picked up her shirt and handed it to her biting her lip and finding it difficult to look in her eyes as she asked quietly, "Parvati. . . please?"

Parvati rolled her eyes and snatched the shirt quickly shoving it over her head. Then without being told she hopped off Hermione's bed and started moving her stuff on the cot on the other side of the room as Hermione opened the door to let Ginny inside.

"So Fleur just got here, we're just waiting for Luna and Parv- oh," Ginny said just noticing Parvati. "I didn't see you come in." Ginny, Hermione noticed seemed a more than a little frazzled. She was speaking quickly and urgently reminding her of how Molly acted when Fleur and Bill were getting married.

"I actually just got here," Parvati said giving her a warm smile, "just a few moments ago, actually. Hermione was just showing me to my room."

"Actually, I needed to talk to you about the room situation," Ginny said frowning. "Luna is uh. . . gonna have to stay with you too."

"Oh that's fi-" Hermione started but was quickly cut off by Parvati.

"I thought you said Luna wasn't staying the night because she had to go home and feed the uh- humpleback something-or-other," Parvati put in. If she wasn't going to get the room alone with Hermione she at least wanted to know why.

"Oh well," Ginny smiled, "I guess those something-or-others got killed by another something-or-other this morning. I'm sure Luna will tell you all about it. Anyway- I can get another cot in here for you, it might get a little crowded-"

"No need," Parvati said walking up to Ginny and putting her arm around her. "You have enough to worry about as it is, don't worry about us I'll just share with Hermione and Luna can have the cot-"

"Are you sure, it's kinda small?"

"If not I'll just sleep on the floor," Hermione put in quickly giving Parvati and furtive glance. "Anyway, just don't worry about it. Just be concerned with the wedding, we'll let Luna know the arrangements."

Ginny gave them both a relieved look. "Alright, the rehearsal is gonna at five, I'll see you then I have some errands to run," she was going through the door, but stopped suddenly and poked her head back in the room. "And, thanks a lot for being a bridesmaid Parvati. I know we have not really been friends for the longest time, but I have a feeling that that's gonna change."

Parvati gave her a genuine warm smile. "I hope so," she said as she watched Ginny leave the room.

As soon as Ginny left, the warm smile left and was replaced by a rather cold remark. "The floor, Hermione? You would rather sleep on the floor than with me? Luna's gonna be in the room with us Hermione, I'm not gonna start tearing my clothes off to have wild sex with you when someone else is in the room even if that person would be _oblivious _to what was going on."

"Parvati-"

"No, Hermione. I'm so sick of you being ashamed of us, it's like your a homophobe when I'm with you around your friends and family. You don't even like being near me-"

"Parvati that's not true-" Hermione denied reaching out a hand to Parvati, but could not help but subconsciously realize the door was wide open.

Parvati noticed her girlfriend eyeing the door and gave her a disgusted look that made Hermione's stomach twist uncomfortably. "Why is it so bloody hard for you to be with me?" Parvati asked sorely turning away from her touch. Her face was hard and angry, but Hermione could tell the emotion inside was a bit more vulnerable. "I'll be back in time for the rehearsal, I'm going out."

Parvati shut the door behind her as she left the room. Not a second later she disapparated with a small _crack!_

Hermione stood there stunned at the sudden turn of events. Less than ten minutes ago she was kissing Parvati on the bed. Feeling her warm body next to hers, exploring her beautiful dark skin with her lips and then there was a knock on the door and everything went to hell. How typical. She felt terrible. Parvati had looked so happy to see her when she got to the burrow. Her eyes were alight, her smile was pure bliss and something. . . suggestive. . . that was how the kissing started. Parvati had missed her and Parvati really did not care who knew about it. Hermione did. She was terrified at the unacceptance of being with Parvati. An actual relationship was not what Hermione had in mind that night when they first experienced each other in their dormitory. Hermione thought she would have gotten it out of her system and eventually gotten back together with Ron, but the more times she kissed Parvati, the more she fell for her. Hermione wanted to lose herself in Parvati, she wanted to drown in everything that was Parvati. Hermione kicked her bag of clothes that was laying on the floor and cursed. How did she get in this mess?


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: As always I own nothing.**

**Onwards to Chapter 2**

**Review and let me know what you think  
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><p>Lavender Brown jumped with a start as her best friend apparated next to her. A few of the customers around her looked take aback surprised at the witch's sudden appearance, but then looked away as if realizing that it was not such an uncommon experience. Lavender was in the middle of a cafe in Diagon Alley just like she promised she would be so Parvati knew where she could go if things went south. Parvati had practically begged her best friend to be available for the first few hours that Parvati had arrived at the Burrow.<p>

"Lav please!" Parvati had begged a week before. "I barely know them. . . I mean I know them. . . but come on Lav."

"I don't even know why you agreed," Lavender said rolling her eyes as they browsed through the racks of Madame Malikson's Robe Shop looking for a dress. "I mean you know Harry a little I suppose, but Ginny?"

Parvati gave her best friend a helpless look remembering how Ginny had asked her to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. Apparently her brother from Romania owled her last minute saying he could go and be in the wedding, requiring one more bridesmaid for Ginny. "What was I supposed to say? She's one of Hermione's best friends," she glanced uncomfortably around her as if it were the robes that were making her feel awkward. "You should have been there when she asked me. I mean, honestly, I don't know who felt more out of place: me or her? I was lucky Hermione was there to diffuse the tension."

"You should be happy about this," Lavender pointed out. "Hermione's trying very hard to include you in her life. She obviously had something to do with it, I mean why else would Ginny ask you to be a bridesmaid? It was a last minute decision and I'm sure the Maid of Honor made some suggestions."

Parvati sighed. "Including me after she is insistent on keeping us a secret? She was on edge the entire weekend I visited her parents with her. I swear Lav, she wouldn't look at me if they were in the same room."

"Those were her parents. These are her friends. Maybe she's planning to get them warmed up to the idea of you and then telling them," Lavender reasoned pulling a dress gown off the rack and examining it. "I'm not sure if I can pull of this color. It's coral. . . I've never worn coral too much."

"You look good in every color except lime green and orange," Parvati said distracted. "Seriously, though, I'm really scared this might blow up in my face. And, then I'll be all alone in the Burrow with no where to go. . ."

"Fine," Lavender declared.

Parvati looked at her hopefully. "You're serious? You'll hang out somewhere so I know where to go if-"

"Fine," Lavender repeated. "That's the adjective you would use to describe me in this dress, right? I'm not going for beautiful, that's way to sentimental; but I'm not going for hooker either because I want to look like I respect myself. Looking _fine_ would suggest classy one night stand with a girl that is sexy and respects herself, right?"

Parvati gave her a dumbfounded look. "Are you kidding me?"

"Tell me Parvati, you like women, what would you think of me in this dress?"

Parvati sighed eyeing the neckline and the fit of the fabric. "It'll make your boobs look fantastic and it'll hug your hips in the right places. Although I would try it on before you buy it, sometimes what's good in theory isn't always so in application."

Lavender rolled her eyes at the evidence of Hermione's influence on Parvati's word choice. _Theory, Application? Really? "_Yes, but what will it make you want to do to me?"

"Shag your brains out," Parvati answered dully.

"Fine," Lavender said again.

"Yes you'll look _fine_," Parvati replied scowling, not feeling very attended to.

"No, I mean _fine_ I'll wait at that one cafe in Diagon Alley for a few hours, so you know where you can go if things don't go well."

Parvati broke into a grin. "Really?"

"Yes, I probably wouldn't have been invited to the wedding anyway if it wasn't for you. Besides, I like Hermione and I hope things with you two work out. Granted, I haven't always liked her, but I am definitely warming up to her."

"Oh that's okay," Parvati replied feeling freshly perky. "I haven't always liked her either."

A week since that conversation Lavender frowned at the place where she had promised Parvati she would be. Although she had not wanted to sit in a cafe for a couple of hours for no reason, she had hoped for Parvati's sake everything was going well and it had been for no reason.

"Vati," Lavender started reaching out to her friend, but was quickly put off by a jerk of Parvati's arm from her grip. Lavender knew her best friend too well to consider this normal behavior. Parvati liked contact. She loved linking arms with her best friend when they went shopping, she loved resting her head on someone's shoulder while reading long chapters of the potions book, and she loved being openly affectionate with previous boyfriends. Boyfriends. That was the difference. But, it was not Parvati's sexuality Lavender was having a problem with, it was Hermione.

"Parvati," Lavender reached out again, knowing that her rejection before was in response to her friend's feelings towards Hermione not her. This time Parvati didn't flinch away and was quite surprised in herself that she had just a moment ago. Parvati looked at her friend, fighting tears and pulling her in a hug. "It's okay," Lavender murmured smoothing out her hair with her hand and resting it on Parvati's cheek. "C'mon let's get out of here and get some fresh air." Lavender dropped some sickles on the table and they left the little cafe to walk among the other wizards in Diagon Alley.

"It's like she's ashamed of herself. She's so intent on no one finding out," Parvati began as she linked arms with the girl next to her. "As if someone finding out that we're together is the absolute worst thing that could happen-"

"Her losing you is the worst thing that could happen to her," Lavender cut her off already getting angry at Hermione. If Lavender thought Hermione was insufferable in their first year when Granger's collective knowledge of the course material and loud-mouthed answers in class knew no bounds, it was nothing compared to this. Hermione should be thrilled to call Parvati her girlfriend. More thrilled than telling Snape what is produced when you add powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood.

"That's not-" Parvati started flustered, "I'm not. . . getting at that I'm just frustrated Lav! I missed her! I haven't seen her in weeks and she doesn't want to be anyway near me if there's someone else in the room. I just want to hold her hand," Parvati said as if she was trying to reason with herself. "I want to kiss her on the cheek in a public place without her hyperventilating. . ."

"Vati-"

"I want her to be happy she's with me!" Parvati choked out spontaneously. Her eyes started to water and her voice cracked. "What's wrong with me Lav? What's so wrong with me that she can't stand the fact that she's with me?"

Lavender did not say anything for a moment, as she steered her friend off the main road towards the sidewalk. Parvati rested her head against the lamp post and waited for the supportive speech. What Lavender said instead, however, surprised Parvati.

"What's wrong with _you_, Parvati is that you like women," Lavender explained in harsh voice. She gave her friend a degrading look and let her lip curl in disgust. "I don't even fucking get it. You walk into a bar and nine times out of ten a fairly good-looking wizard is gonna buy you a drink of firewhiskey or two. It's not like women are your back-up. And, Granger? C'mon Parvati, we spent more than a few good years at Hogwarts making fun of her hair alone. Remember our second year we were baffled at how the basilisk didn't get petrified by _her?_ Besides, she's insufferable. Remember S.P.E.W.? For Merlin's sake she was probably hiding some houselves in her hair. . . and in class? She was a know-it-all, hated divination since it was the only thing she wasn't good at, and a well-spent Friday night for her was in the library studying-"

"Lavender, what's wrong with you?" Parvati demanded. For one, Parvati could not believe what she was hearing. Never had Lavender once expressed disdain for their relationship since she had told her. Now when she needed support more than ever she was attacking her and her girlfriend. She felt bubbling anger rise up in her, comparable to how a dragon must feel before it spat fire. "You don't get to talk to me like that! Forget the fact the fact that you were insulting me," Parvati shot furiously, "But you don't ever insult Hermione! She's smart, she's brave, and considerate which is more than enough to give any guy a run for his money. No one has ever made me feel this way, and I know some people won't like it, and some people will think it's bloody gross, but that doesn't matter because at the end of the day I really don't give a damn what they think- I love her!"

Parvati glared and waited for her friend to retaliate ignoring the strangers on the street who were giving her odd looks at her sudden outburst. But instead of shooting back, Lavender gave her friend a small smile and asked wonderingly, "How can a girl with so much fire, date someone that is the complete opposite?"

Parvati stopped glaring daggers and relaxed her clenched fist, lowering her guard but not completely. "I- I don't-"

"You need to give Hermione some of your fire, Parvati," Lavender reasoned calmly as if the arguing and glares before had never happened. "Don't let her lack of it put yours out. You say Hermione is brave and by all means I believe you, but coming out is a bit different from facing Voldemort, isn't it?" Lavender brushed her friends cheek and reached out to squeeze her friends hand reassuringly.

"You- you made up that whole thing?" Parvati asked unbelievingly, feeling her hand go limp as Lavender let go.

"Of course not, S.P.E.W. was unbearable remember? And, she was an insufferable know-it-all for the longest time. . . Still is actually, remember that time we went to lunch a couple of months ago and she lectured me on the twelve uses of dragon's blood? She sent an owl listing the sources where she read it the next day," Lavender jibed playfully.

Parvati cracked a smile for the first time since getting to Diagon Alley. "Yeah, she's that way," Parvati said fondly. "A terribly smart, beautiful witch. . . Why did you put on that whole ruse though? Just to make a point?"

"Well, sympathizing with you was getting nowhere, pitying you was getting dull, so I thought I'd verbally abuse you instead," Lavender said cheerfully. "Besides I was curious."

"About what?"

"How serious you were about her. I didn't know you loved her. . . and something tells me she doesn't know either. Now you know what to tell her the next time you two have a serious conversation about your relationship."

Parvati couldn't help but let another small smile play on her lips, stumped by her friend's conniving mind. "How come everyone at Hogwarts thought we were airheads? You, at least, are utterly brilliant."

"Because of Granger," Lavender replied in mock-annoyance. "We never stood a chance against her."

Parvati laughed and Lavender grinned.

Before Parvati decided to take off back to the burrow to reconcile with her girlfriend which was due any minute, Lavender offered her one last piece of advice. "Seriously, though, give her some fire. Book smarts can't help her on this one."

Hermione looked worriedly around her as if waiting for Parvati to apparate next to her as she had earlier that day. It was fifteen minutes to the rehearsal, and nearly everyone was making their way to the backside of the house where the altar and tents were neatly set. Hermione, however, stood in front of the house cursing as if that would somehow bring Parvati back.

"Hermione? What are you doing out here?"

Hermione didn't have to turn around to know that it was Ron, but she did anyway. He was wearing casual dress robes of black that fit his form nicely. Hermione had not seen him look this flattering since Bill and Fleur's wedding. That wedding, however, seemed decades ago. Hermione was not gushing over him now like she had back then and for some reason that made her sad. There was a nostalgic longing that came with the idea of liking Ron and being with Ron. Hermione could not help but play out in her head how much simpler her life would be if she was experiencing the same feelings for Ron that she did in the past.

"I'm waiting for Parvati. . . she went out for a bit and she said she'd be-"

"Parvati's already in the back with everyone else," Ron told her frowning. He walked up to her closing the small gap and put his hand on her shoulder softly, then let it wander up to her chin inclining her to look at him. "Are you alright Hermione?"

Hermione wanted to answer the question. She wanted to tell him all about Parvati and how scared she was that someone might find out, but how scared she was that Parvati would leave her if she kept this a secret much longer. She wanted to tell him how confused she was about being with Parvati and ask him if being with her was worth risking the approval and love of her family and friends. Hermione wanted to tell him all this, but noticed that Ron was looking at her with concern like a lover would rather than a friend and realized Ron had still not gotten over their relationship. Telling him about Parvati would just hurt him.

"Yeah," Hermione reassured him. "I'm sure it's just the stress from the wedding. . . all the planning you know. . ." she let her voice trail off uncaringly.

Ron smiled and let his hand fall from her chin. "It's okay, it'll all be over with tomorrow. C'mon let's go to the back, Mum'll have a fit with me if I'm the last one there."

Hermione smiled and walked with him towards the back.

Parvati was one of the first people she saw as Ron led her under the huge tent. The tent was set up almost identical as it was during Fleur and Bill's wedding, but she did not appreciate the set up much as there was a beautiful girl on the other side of the tent monopolizing her attention. What she was wearing was casual and simple like everyone else at the rehearsal, but she plainly looked stunning. She was wearing a flimsy white summer dress, exposing much of her back and shoulders. The hem went to her knee exposing a portion of her fit legs and matching white flats. Hermione felt like someone kicked her in the stomach when she saw her and she quickly realized she was not the only one noticing Parvati. George had trouble keeping his eyes off of her, the young photographer did not even try to keep his interest discreet, and Fleur kept shooting her dirty looks obviously envious of the attention she was getting.

Hermione took her eyes away from Parvati and followed Ron up to the altar where Harry stood waiting. He looked nervous and excited, similar to how he was before a quidditch game.

"I got her," Ron announced to him.

"Great. Blimey Hermione, you would have gave Mrs. Weasley a heart attack if you would have been late, not to mention Ginny."

"Sorry I was a bit preoccupied I guess."

Harry smiled. "It's alright- Oh I think that's the minister headed my way. I should go talk to him." He gestured for Ron to come with him.

As soon as they left, George came up and smiled at Hermione. "Heya, Hermione. Beautiful day for a wedding rehearsal isn't it?"

Hermione resisted the urge to just ask him what he wanted and humored him instead. "The best."

"And speaking of beautiful," George said seriously, "I understand that you're good friends with that wonderful specimen of the witch population over there." He gestured towards Parvati who was talking with Luna and Neville about twenty feet away.

"I am," Hermione replied not liking at all where this was going.

"Then perhaps you could tell me a way I could sweep her off her feet. You see I have these chocolates laced with love potion, but I would rather win her the old fashion way if you know what I mean."

Hermione knew exactly what George meant. Hermione could have told him to take her out to a cozy intimate cafe and bewitch the lights to flicker bright to dull depending on her mood. She could have told him to take her out under the stars and not smirk as she talked about astrology and read the future in the sky as he kissed her neck. If not those two things she could have told him to turn on the wizarding radio after they were done making love and whisper the lyrics of an old slow in her ear as he held her. Instead, she told him. "She's already taken."

"Ah," George replied sounding disappointed but not at all surprised. "So I guess I'm gonna have to use the love potion."

"George!"

"Sorry, Hermione. I forgot you have a moral objection to wrong-doing and rule-breaking. If you can just forget everything I just said I have to go in the house and grab something real fast," George winked and left Hermione standing on the altar alone.

George might have been disappointed he left so fast, because as soon as he did Parvati excused herself from Luna and Neville's conversation about magical plants and went to join Hermione.

"You know you shouldn't look so sad. Two of your best friends are getting married, that seems like plenty of reason to be excited," Parvati said as way of greeting.

Hermione bit her lip, a thousand apologies fighting to escape all at once that all she could do was stand there and look like she wanted to cry.

"Hermione," Parvati said slowly. "Don't apologize because I'm not apologizing either. We had a disagreement, we got upset, and we'll get through it. I wanted to come back soon and talk to you about this in more private quarters but I had to go home for a minute and gather some things."

"Parvati, I'm so sorr-"

"No apologies." Parvati stopped her. "We'll talk about it later. . . tomorrow probably, once all this wedding stuff is taken care of. I promise."

Hermione nodded slowly. "I want to share the bed with you tonight," she said blurted out awkwardly. "I really don't want to sleep on the floor."

"I would love to wake up to you next to me," Parvati said smiling.

Hermione smiled feeling extremely relieved, and then all of a sudden she had a sudden urge to kiss the Indian girl in front of her. To throw it all to hell, grab the girl in the white summer dress, and blow her mind. Instead Hermione felt her face flush red from the irrational thought which inquired a curious look from Parvati. Before she could ask, however, Molly Weasley was gesturing Hermione to come over to the side of the tent where Harry, Ron, and Ginny were.

"Looks like someone else wants you besides me," Parvati said with a grin.

"Oh believe me, people want you too. I would avoid eating anything George Weasley gives you as it has a good chance of being laced with a love potion."

Parvati laughed. "I don't think any love potion could combat with the spell you have me under." With that she gave her witch a quick peck on the cheek, and turned away leaving Hermione to join the soon to be newlyweds and the best man with a slight blush on her face.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything related to Harry Potter.**

**That said, I hope you enjoy. Reviews are always appreciated.**

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><p>The rehearsal passed, the dinner was bloody brilliant according to Ron, and everyone was anxious for the next day. It was not that Hermione was anxious that she could not sleep, it was because she was squished next to Parvati on a small bed, smelling her hair, and trying very hard to keep her hands to herself. Parvati fell asleep quickly as did Luna on the cot. Hermione, however, had trouble keeping her dirty thoughts at bay. For once she did not care that someone else was in the room. She wanted to wake up Parvati with a passionate kiss and her hand down her shorts. Partly, this was all Parvati's fault. She took no bother to cover herself up for bed. She wore shorts that barely covered her arse and a thin camisole with no bra that was short enough to show her bellybutton and low cut enough to show cleavage. Besides all that, Parvati's hair was extra soft, her arms and legs were freshly shaven and smooth from the lotion. And the more Hermione thought about it there was a high chance that another part of her anatomy was freshly shaven as well. She mentally kicked herself for being too busy to find time to masturbate for the past three weeks. She was going insane right now.<p>

Parvati moaned slightly in her sleep pulling the pillow closer to her and inching away from Hermione. Hermione cheered as this might give her some room to please herself. She reached into her pajama shorts trying to make room, but there was not much to work with. Parvati was just way too close to her on the bed. She would start hitting her once she started getting busy.

Hermione cursed, getting angry at Parvati. She had done this on purpose. She had to shave tonight, and lotion up, and hardly wear anything to bed to torment Hermione. Hermione scowled and slightly stood up looking at Parvati's sleeping figure. As if she wasn't wet enough already, she could see Parvati's breast through the neckline of her flimsy camisole. Her nipple was hard probably because she was cold, or rather to torment Hermione even more. She groaned unhappily and tried to get comfortable on the bed knowing it was going to be a long night.

She tried to sleep. She really did but a couple hours later all that was happening was that she was throbbing, and her mind was going crazy, and there was no fucking way Hermione was getting any sleep unless she. . .

She summoned her wand using wandless magic. That took a long time in itself seeing as how she had no ounce of concentration. Once she did she began to create a small barrier around the bed similar to the ones she created when she was camping and hunting horcruxes with Ron and Harry. It took about a half hour to do and once she was done she felt almost bad about what she was going to do.

"I'm not gonna wake her up," Hermione muttered to herself as she propped herself up with an elbow. She stared at Parvati's sleeping figure and fingered the strap of her camisole she slipped it halfway down her shoulder and tugged at the front of the fabric exposing her breast. A moan escaped her throat as she carefully cupped it with one hand, anxious to see if Parvati would wake up or notice. When she didn't, Hermione decided to press her luck more and left a trail of wet kisses from her back to her throat. Parvati slightly turned in her sleep, but remained oblivious to Hermione's pursuit of love-making. Deciding to push her luck further Hermione removed her hand from her lover's breast and slipped it down her lover's short instead and was greeted by an interesting surprise. She was not wearing panties. This time Hermione did not think she went to bed scandidly clad to torment her, she knew she did it to torment her.

Hermione slipped a look at Luna who was still fast asleep, and replayed the barrier spells in her head making sure she had said all the right words to make the barrier sound and sight proof. Once she was sure and confident she had done the spells right, she slipped off her own pajama shorts and put a hand between her wet thighs. Parvati, she decided, was just going to have to deal if she woke up from this as it was all her fault.

She slowly made slow circles against her clitoris moaning softly at the contact. After the hours of maddening fantasizing, the actual touching felt amazing. She felt herself getting hot under the covers and pulled them off of her throwing them on Parvati who still slept oblivious to what Hermione was doing to herself. She felt her stomach tensing, the wet pool of her lubrication lustfully enveloping her clitoris as she moved her fingers up her sex, the animalistic groan that was dying to escape her.

She slowed down for a moment, and stuck to fingers hard inside of her. She was slow at first, savoring the feeling, but she needed more. She increased the speed of her hand, thumping her fingers inside of herself as her hips began to cooperate and bucked with the motion. With her other hand she grabbed her breast through the fabric of her shirt wishing she had taken the time to dispose of that, but no matter it was too late now. She was in no way going to stop her other hand from doing what it was doing to simply take off a shirt. She was getting to the edge, but she wanted it to last a little bit longer so she removed her fingers and smothered her clitoris in her lubrication. She bit her lip to keep from moaning as she did soft circles around her clitoris. Unable to contain herself, Hermione increased the speed and the pressure. Her hand was moving swiftly and almost spastically to give the effect of vibrations.

She knew she was close to climax. Honestly it had been so long that she had that it did not take much effort. Besides, no one knew her better than she did. "Oh Parvati," she moaned trying hard not to shake the bed as not to wake her. She bit her lip as she orgasmed, moaning slightly as she felt the waves of contractions move through her body. Breathing deeply, she lied there half-naked a few moments before a new feeling of exhaustion and sleep came over her. Lazily she pulled her pajama bottoms back up and threw some of the covers over her. She grabbed her wand and half-caringly took the barrier spells off as she tossed her wand over to her bag. Carefully she pulled Parvati's camisole strap over her shoulder as to cover her breast. As she covered up her lover, she could not help but just stop for a moment and realize how angelic she looked just laying there. The body, the hair, the lips, the skin. . . everything about Parvati seemed surreal, she was too stunning to be sleeping next to Hermione- far too stunning for words. Her fellow witch wrinkled her nose in her sleep and Hermione couldn't help but smile at how childish she looked when she did that. It made her feel almost sick, how innocent she looked in her sleep, knowing that she had just gotten off next to her. She shrugged off the feeling and, carefully, she hovered her face above her lover's smooth cheek and planted a light kiss. Wistfully she lowered her head and sighed in Parvati's hair as she snuggled in her neck and threw an arm over her angel's waist. In the moment, Hermione really did not care who saw her sleeping like this. As Ginny said, the bed was really small anyhow.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

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"It's time to get up Hermione," a voice said.

Hermione turned in her sleep. Was someone talking to her? The voice sounded familiar, but. . .

"Parvati?" Hermione asked blinded by the bright sun coming through the window and holding a hand in front of her eyes to see.

"No, Parvati is downstairs getting some breakfast. You should really get dressed Hermione. I think the house is infested with gnargles, if you go down too late they'll take the rest of the food."

"Thanks Luna," Hermione said realizing who she was talking to.

"You're welcome." Luna went back to her cot and fiddled with her bag.

"When did Parvati get up?" Hermione asked trying to sound disinterested as she rummaged around trying to find a sweatshirt.

"Oh about an hour ago. She didn't want to wake you, she said you looked exhausted."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, she looked at you rather sweetly while you sleeping. Almost like a lover would," Luna continued in the same tone oblivious to how that statement made Hermione's heart beat erratically.

"Oh?" Hermione said again this time her voice cracked.

Luna finished clipping what looked like pickled radishes to her earlobes, and turned around to face Hermione.

"Is something wrong Hermione? You look troubled."

"No, it's nothing Luna. Those are. . .er interesting earrings," Hermione said as a way to change the subject.

"Father got them for me on his trip to India. They are supposed to ward off evil and help the wary traveler," she informed Hermione.

Hermione bit her lip to keep herself from criticizing Luna's charms and excused herself to the bathroom. She examined herself in the mirror. She looked slightly burnt out from her lack of sleep last night. She pulled her hair into a bun and brushed her teeth trying to remember all the duties she had to do today. She spit into the sink, telling herself that she would just ask Molly to write her a list. She opened the bathroom door and ran into a rather disheveled, lanky red-head.

"Hey Hermione," Ron said and gave her a shy smile. He was carrying a towel and some extra clothes. "Sorry, are you done in there. I woke up kinda late and George is hogging the other bathroom. He seems to think that everyone is gonna be looking at an ordinary groomsmen instead of the best man."

Hermione laughed. "Hmm I thought everyone was supposed to be looking at the bride."

Ron smiled back. "I think it's more George is concerned Parvati might be looking at him. I saw him trying to smuggle love potion in her butterbear all dinner last night."

"Yeah he asked me about her," Hermione said remembering.

"If you ask me though I don't see what the big deal is. I saw the photographer drooling off her too. I told Harry he should get a new guy for today if he didn't want all of his wedding pictures to be of one of the Patil twins."

"You don't think she's pretty?" Hermione asked with a hint of surprise.

"I went out with her sister for the Yule Ball," Ron reminded her, "and I only had eyes for-"

"Hermione," a voice called her from behind. "You finally got up sleepyhead?"

"You," Ron muttered so low Hermione could barely hear it as she turned around to face who was addressing her.

Parvati walked up to her, a breakfast pastry in one hand and a vat of pumpkin juice in the other. "I was bringing something up for you. I was gonna wake you up, I figured you might have went back to the room and fell back asleep when Luna left."

"No, she woke me up a little while ago I've just been freshening up," Hermione said distracted looking back at Ron.

"Gotta hurry up and shower. See you in a bit Hermione," Ron gave her a half-hearted smile and closed the bathroom door behind him.

Hermione bit her lip, feeling bad for not being able to requite Ron's feelings mostly because the girl with pumpkin juice and a donut was so sweet and considerate.

"What was that about?" Parvati asked noticing Ron's look.

"Not much," Hermione responded and proceeded to walk with her girlfriend towards their room. "He was reminiscing about his Yule Ball date."

Parvati laughed. "Yeah," she said remembering. "That was a horrible double date. I'm sorry, I know you're friends with them but those boys don't know how to have a good time."

Hermione laughed. "How did you end up going with Harry anyway? It was so close to the Ball how did you not have a date yet?"

"Well Hermione not all of us can catch quidditch stars as easy as you can."

"You know what I mean Parvati. You're pretty, how come no one asked you?"

"I was asked," Parvati said smiling, "But I was interpreting my dreams from the diary I keep for divination and I inferred from them that if I held out I would get the date of a lifetime. . ."

Hermione snorted and Parvati laughed. "Hey, he was a champion," she reasoned as they entered the room and sat down on the bed together. "How was I supposed to know he was gonna be such a stiff date?"

"Ah, so you only date the famous ones," Hermione mused.

"You were with Krum, Hermione."

Hermione smiled, "I guess I had my sights set on the wrong person on stage. Although, I did say hi to you. . . I distinctly remember that. You looked like you were in shock."

Parvati laughed remembering the night. "I'm sorry," she said handing her the pastry and juice. "I guess it was the first night I realized how beautiful you were."

Hermione snorted in her pumpkin juice. "More like the first time you perceived me as a threat," she said setting the cup down on the nightstand.

Parvati turned slightly pink. "I was fourteen, Hermione. Give me a break all I cared about was superficial things, being prettier than my roommates included."

"Hmm," Hermione mused biting into the pastry.

"Anyway," Parvati said getting up from off the bed. "Hurry up and eat we're supposed to be dressed pretty soon and we still have to do our hair." She walked towards the closet and pulled out the dresses. "I guess Luna already got dressed. There's only two left in here."

"Or maybe the gnargles took one," Hermione piped.

Parvati snorted. "Well, the gnargles are just taking everything. Luna made me take up food for you because it would have obviously been all gone if you took another five minutes," she said shutting the door.

"Hmm so that was why you brought it up for me. . . I thought you were just being sweet," Hermione mused.

"I'm sweet too," Parvati said looking back at her to shoot her a grin before she pulled her shirt over head and started changing.

Hermione sat back smiling, watching the girl change. Parvati caught her eye. "Enjoying the view?"

"Every bit of it."

Parvati seemed to hesitate as she pulled her dress over her head. "Hermione, can I ask you something?"

"Hmm?" Hermione managed throughout the last mouthful of pastry. She took a swig of pumpkin juice to wash it down as she waited for Parvati.

"Were you up last night?"

Hermione stiffened immediately. "Yeah I suppose I had some trouble getting to sleep."

"I mean were you up. . . and enjoying your own company?" she asked looking at her reflection in the mirror.

"Oh." Hermione felt her face go red. "I really didn't mean to wake you up Parvati. In fact, I didn't even know you were up-"

"It's okay, I was just curious. I must have woken up for a second enough to realize what was going on before I fell back asleep. I had no clue when I woke up this morning if it was a dream or not. Didn't know whether to log it in my diary. Can you zip me up?" Parvati said casually as if people masturbating in bed next to her was the most natural thing in the world. She caught Hermione's eye and gestured towards her back zipper.

Hermione walked over to her and fingered the back of her gown. Biting her tongue her tongue to keep from saying a snide remark about dream diaries, she chose to say something that might be more agreeable with her lover. "I just couldn't help myself I guess. You look so beautiful when you sleep. . . and wear so little. . ."

Parvati laughed. "I did that for you, did you enjoy it?"

"Obviously," Hermione said sounding disgruntled and rolling her eyes as she zipped up the dress.

"Don't be like that I knew it helped you, you said my name."

Hermione turned an even deeper shade of red. "I always say your name," she muttered and hugged her friend from behind resting her head on her shoulder and kissing her neck.

This time Parvati turned pink again and smiled. "This is the only time someone has told me that that I take it as a compliment. Usually it's these weird loner types that tell me that thinking it will make me like them."

Hermione's lips curved upwards and Parvati could feel the smile on her skin. "Well I'm not a weird loner type. I'm just a girl who fell head over heals for her roommate."

"Well I definitely prefer you over them. The idea of you masturbating over me is actually quite sexy."

"It's not just that. I have sex dreams about you too," she kissed Parvati's neck behind her ear, "and I always cum."

Parvati laughed at her bluntness and felt Hermione's devilish grin pressed against her neck. "Now this is the definitely the first time I can honestly say the same thing back."

"Hmmm, so how do your dreams start?" Hermione asked leaving wet kisses along her neck.

Parvati shivered as Hermione's hot breath hit Parvati's now moist neck. "They usually start like this."

"Like this?" Hermione teased. "Exactly like this? With me kissing your neck," (she planted a passionate kiss under her ear) "and you looking fantastic in a dress while I look like a scrounge that just got out of bed, and-"

There was a knocking on the door and Parvati noticed with much satisfaction that Hermione did not jump out of her skin like she had yesterday.

"Girls are you ready in there? Fleur, Luna, and Ginny are already downstairs getting their hair done. We really need to hurry up we still have a lot to do!"

"And Molly Weasely interrupting us," Parvati finished for her as Hermione had already let go and was haphazardly tearing off her clothes.

"Just give us a minute Mrs. Weasely," Hermione said loudly as she pulled her dress over her head. She motioned for Parvati to open the door. She was smoothing out the lines of her dresses when Molly came in looking like she wanted to yell at them for taking so long, but saw Hermione and broke out into a big smile instead.

"Oh Hermione!" she started. "You look absolutely beautiful." She walked up to her ignoring Parvati. Hermione motioned that she still needed to be zipped up and Molly went to it without being asked and tugged it upwards. "I'm so glad Ginny decided to go with this color, it looks so well on everyone."

"Thank you Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said politely, giving Parvati a small smile who, as far as Hermione was concerned, looked twice as attractive in the dress. It hung loosely on her body, tight on her breasts, and nicely on her arse. It went down to her just below the knee, covering enough to be modest but showing enough to make Hermione want to slip her hand underneath. She licked her lips.

"Oh and Ron will just die when he sees you in this." Mrs. Weasley continued, abruptly interrupting the sweet thoughts she was having about Parvati. Mrs. Weasley went on oblivious to Hermione's horror, "You look simply stunning, you'll knock him right off his feet."

Parvati stiffened in the doorway looking rather defensive, as she watched Mrs. Weasley smooth the back of her girlfriend's dress in a motherly way as if Hermione was already her daughter-in-law. "Should we go downstairs Mrs. Weasley, it's getting late," Parvati said politely, although her jaw had a hard time staying unclenched.

"Oh of course," Molly said and gestured Hermione to follow her. Parvati followed feeling a bit unwanted like the odd second-cousin twice removed at a family reunion. Hermione slowed down and grabbed her lover's hand as they made their way down the stairs. "I'm sorry," she muttered low so Mrs. Weasley could not hear. "Everyone seems to think we're gonna get back together."

"It's not your fault," Parvati consented in the same low voice. "And she's absolutely right, you're gonna blow his mind. Stunning isn't quite the right word, you look perfect." She lifted Hermione's hand to her lips after making sure no one was looking and gave her a quick kiss on hand. Hermione smiled and interlinked her fingers with Parvati's as they dropped their joined hands back to their sides. Hermione felt her heart thumping at this small, but daring gesture similar to how she felt the first time she had snuck out of the common room after hours with Harry and Ron in their first year. Parvati just squeezed her hand and tried not to smile too much as they made it downstairs and worked their way towards the back den. What Mrs. Weasley, Hermione and Parvati encountered when they walked in was a disaster scene.


	4. Chapter 4

**Again I own nothing. **

**I don't know how many people are actually reading this, but I enjoy writing it so I hope someone else likes reading it :P Also this chapter's pretty long, I don't know if there going to be this long all the time, but we'll see. Enjoy**

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><p>What Hermione and Parvati encountered when they walked in was a disaster scene. Whoever the french witch was Fleur insisted upon having only seemed to be able to do one thing right- Fleur's hair. Luna's hair looked like it had encountered the wrong end of a blast-ended skrewt. Ginny's hair looked like it encountered the wrong end of a dozen blast-ended skrewts.<p>

"I look terrible!" Ginny was beyond tears at this point Hermione noticed after the red head's outburst. She looked physically ill.

Needless to say Fleur's hairdressing friend took offense to this. Although she could not speak a lick of english, she read Ginny's facial expression quite well. A pissed off, bride, it seemed was a universal language. A loud conversation in french ensued between Fleur and the other witch in which case both of them gave Ginny a somewhat dirty look. When Mrs. Weasely managed to regain her voice she ushered Fleur and the hairdresser out of the room.

"She's ruined me," Ginny said looking pale after the door closed. And, yelling in english this time, could be heard from the other side of the door by Mrs. Weasely.

"Oh it's not that bad," Luna said calmly oblivious to how her hair was sizzling slightly. Hermione and Parvati gave each other appraising looks, glad that they had avoided the Voldemort of hairdressers.

"What am I going to do?" Ginny asked weakly looking at her reflection in the mirror with a look of horror. "This will take all day to do."

"Ginny, what happened?" Hermione said walking behind her friend and touching the animal on top of her head. Her hair, it felt, was a scratchy immovable beast that seemed to bite her when she touched it. She had to stop herself from saying ow.

"That witch! I had hired this lady from Diagon Alley to do it months ago, but Fleur kept going on about this french witch from this high end salon so I told her I'd think about it but Fleur just took that as a yes and hired her on and cancelled the other one. I thought it wouldn't be too bad. . . Fleur's turned out nice."

"How come Fleur's hair turned alright when yours- when Luna's is sizzling?" Parvati asked quickly correcting herself.

"Fleur said she had bad hair," Luna said in a dreamy voice. "I didn't think that was very nice of her."

"Your hair's nice," Parvati scoffed. "Here let me see it!"

She scooted Hermione out of the way and started apprehensively poking it. She frowned and the bottles of hair magic products caught her on the table.

"Bitch used Veela products!" Parvati exclaimed grabbing the nearest open bottle. "No wonder she managed to ruin the both of you in ten minutes. You don't ever use Veela products in your hair if you're less than half-veela. Everyone knows that!"

The three of them looked surprisingly at Parvati. Parvati looked surprisingly back at them. "You didn't know that? It was Witch Beauty's number three on last years 'Magical Disaster's List.'. . It makes the list every year!" Parvati exclaimed horrified.

"I don't read Witch Beauty!" Ginny growled turning on Hermione. "Someone insisted I read Witch Weekly instead."

"Witch Weekly has informative articles on important subjects and controversies," Hermione defended herself. "All Witch Beauty is about is sex-"

"And hair!" Parvati interjected hotly. "Which is obviously a very important topic right now, much more so than the Goblin uprisings in the South!"

Hermione opened her mouth to retaliate, but Ginny stopped her. "Parvati, what do I do now? I can't go to my wedding like this."

Parvati bit her lip. "Alright. . . what hair products do you have inside the house?"

Ginny motioned the drawer to her right and Parvati opened it and looked through the bottles setting them in separate piles. She licked her lips and closed her eyes for a moment deep in thought.

"Alright, I think I can do this. . . Luna's hair doesn't look half as bad as yours Ginny, so I'll start on yours and while your hair is drying I bet I can get Luna's back to normal. . . I'm not gonna have time to do everyone's hair Ginny. I just have time to get yours and Luna's back to normal and make a nice elegant up-do for you."

"Thank you Parvati," Ginny smiled. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Is there anything I can do?" Hermione asked looking helpless.

"Yeah, you can get rid of these bottles," Parvati motioned towards the veela products, "and you can set Fleur's hair on fire. It's not fair that her hair look so good when she made everyone else's look so bad."

"Right," Hermione said rolling her eyes as she started picking up the bottles.

"Oh, and you can do your hair while you're at it. Do that simple sleek curl I taught you how to do, it'll look good. You know, the one I like?" Parvati said, looking up at her from Ginny's hair at the last part.

Hermione blushed a little. "Yeah, okay."

"Oh and tell Mrs. Weasely I have this under control. I would rather not be interrupted."

Hermione nodded and left the room with the bottles in her hand, and Parvati clapped her hands and looked at her patients. "Alright, let's get started."

In an hour Parvati had Ginny's hair looking normal and Luna's hair normal with a slight curl. After Luna left Ginny thanked Parvati for the umpteenth time.

"No, really Parvati it would have been a disaster without you."

Parvati laughed with her hand in Ginny's hair trying to decide how exactly to do it. "It's nothing. . . it's the least I could do. I am a bridesmaid after all."

Neither of them said anything for a moment. Parvati took a bottle of the counter and sprayed her hair with it. "Honestly, I don't know what Fleur was thinking. . . except for the fact that she doesn't think."

"Oh she was thinking," Parvati grinned. "About herself. Her hair looked great as much as I hate to admit it."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I didn't even want her in the wedding. I just needed bridesmaids. I have way too many guy friends. My parents wanted my brothers in the wedding so what was I suppose to do? Fleur was an obvious choice."

Parvati laughed. "Is that how I got hoodwinked in the wedding too?"

Ginny stiffened and Parvati saw the bride's face go red in the mirror. "I- I didn't-" Parvati started.

"No, it's okay Parvati. It's kinda true. . . I needed someone and we only hung out a couple of times. You know how Percy moved to Australia and couldn't get the time off from his new job, and Charlie did not know if he could make it since he was in Romania. So I mean I wasn't planning on having any more than three bridesmaids, but then Charlie owls last week and says he can come. Mum was really hellbent on having him in the wedding, so I had to find someone else. Well, Hermione mentioned you and I just agreed to it. It was last minute, I couldn't think of anyone else and Hermione seemed really happy about it. . ."

"Hermione's great," Parvati mumbled.

"She- she really likes you," Ginny said awkwardly.

"She better."

Ginny gave her a puzzling look that Parvati saw through the mirror's reflection.

"She was never really close friends with any girls growing up. I was her closest girlfriend, but I was nothing compared to Harry and Ron. . ."

"If you're asking why we were never friends growing up it was because we didn't have anything in common," Parvati said smiling. "And her hair, and buckteeth, and dedication to studying made her a wonderfully easy target to laugh at. And, I can say that because when I make fun of her now I mean it with affection."

Ginny laughed. "That's horrible."

"I was a mean witch when I was younger," Parvati teased. "It's okay though, we both grew up and the stupid superficial things we thought we such big differences we realized weren't very important, and the things we thought were important. . . well they ended up being pretty similar." Parvati took a different bottle and sprayed it on Ginny's hair.

Ginny fidgeted a bit in her chair. "Parvati, can I ask you something?" Ginny asked nervously.

"Sure," Parvati replied wary of her friend's strange body language.

"Just- don't get mad."

Parvati laughed. "My hands are in your hair, perfect positioning for pulling it, and your gonna ask me a question that you obviously think I might get mad at?"

Ginny bit her lip. "Maybe I'll ask another time. . ."

"I was joking, please just ask it. Now i'm insanely curious."

"Are you- I mean- do you like Hermione?"

Parvati smiled playing it off smoothly and continuing fixing her hair. "Of course I like her, she's one of my best friends."

"No. . . I mean. . . are you dating her?"

"Oh," Parvati said grimacing. She stopped fidgeting with the bride's hair and made eye contact with her through the mirror's reflection. "We're that obvious, huh?"

"Hermione more than you."

"Oh?"

"She blushes around you a lot," Ginny smiled.

Parvati laughed and continued fixing Ginny's hair, curling it with some of the mixture from one of the bottles and muttering a small incantation as she did so.

"Then how come you asked if I liked her? For all you know Hermione could have just liked me. It could have been unrequited."

"Well," Ginny mused. "You look rather pleased with yourself any and every time she blushes around you. So, I figured the feeling was mutual."

"It's very mutual," Parvati said smiling. Her smile faltered a bit as she asked the question she was inevitably to ask. "So what do you think about us?"

"What do you mean?"

"We're two women. . . together."

"All I know is I've never seen Hermione so happy, and that's all I want. Are you planning on telling anyone by the way? Not everyone is perceptive as me, especially Hermione's male two best friends."

Parvati gave her a sideways smile. "Believe me, it's not me that wants to keep this thing in the closet. I told Lavender and Padma. . . I wanted to tell my parents but Hermione really isn't comfortable with it seeing as how she is reluctant to tell anyone." Parvati hesitated and asked. "How do you think Harry and your family would take it? It's not just her parents she's reluctant to tell. She's already worried how they would take it. She's worried that her friends will have the same backlash."

"I honestly don't think Harry will care. He may be a bit awkward at first because he never guessed it, but he won't be morally despondent to it. My family, well my mum always figured Hermione and Ron would patch things up, and Ron, well, he screwed things up with Hermione and lost his chance. He's not gonna like anyone Hermione chooses over him, and the fact that you're a girl when Hermione hasn't explicitly expressed an interest in women before. . . you have to understand my brother. He's self-centered. He'll look at the fact that you're a woman as a personal attack from Hermione that he didn't do enough as a man to satisfy her or something. He won't take your relationship seriously, just as a ruse Hermione is up to."

Parvati whistled. "That bad, huh?"

Ginny grimaced. "Maybe I'll be wrong, but Ron well. . . he's not very smooth when it comes to women now is he?"

Parvati snorted. "Well, I can understand him being bitter. I would be too if I lost Hermione." She fluffed Ginny's curls and proceeded to bring half of it up in a simple, but elegant way.

"You two are serious then?"

Parvati let out a half-hearted smile, trying to be light about it, but obviously very worried that what she was considering might be true. "Sometimes I'm not quite sure what Hermione thinks of us. I wonder if I was some experimental one-night stand gone terribly airy."

"Well Hermione was never really the one-night stand type of girl. Everything means something to Hermione."

"Yeah I guess you're right. All I know is that I've never felt this way about anyone before. All I want to do is make her smile. . . it's like the best thing hearing her laugh. And kissing her it's like," Parvati stopped for a moment trying to find the right words to describe it. "You know some people you kiss and after kissing for so long it starts getting boring? With Hermione I could kiss her all night. It's like. . . electric. I never knew I could feel that way, you know?"

Ginny laughed. "Of course I know. I am getting married."

Parvati laughed. "I wish our relationship was as easy as yours and Harry's."

"How do you mean?"

"Heterosexual couples have it way easier. . . no offense."

Ginny squirmed. "Not when you're marrying Harry Potter. Have you not seen any of the magazines? The articles? Everyone has an opinion of our wedding, most of it depicted me as an evil witch who has caught Harry in some horrible unbreakable vow. I got hate mail, Parvati. You know how upsetting it is for someone to tell you that, someone you don't even know, to tell you that you're love is wrong? Or that you're not good enough for the one you love, or that the marriage won't last past the first year? Believe me Parvati, I know the aversion you two will get if you come out. Maybe not on a personal level because all of my friends and family approved, but in a general way I understand people not accepting."

"Wow, Ginny, people really did that?" Parvati asked amazed.

"I got some Howlers," Ginny said grimacing.

"What did you do?"

"You learn to ignore it. You look at the one you love standing across from you as the howler screams obscenities and you smile because you realize, hell if the howler wasn't screaming at you the one you love wouldn't be putting they're arms around you and telling you it's okay anyway. No howlers, no Harry."

Parvati smiled a bit surprised by the whole conversation. "I'm glad you understand. Hermione's really lucky to have a friend like you."

"Well you know her girlfriend _only_ saved the day by fixing Fleur's wretched mess. . ."

"Ah it is my duty as a witch to help her fellow witch on her wedding day."

"You know I never really knew what the appeal of veela were. To be quite honest I don't know why men like them. . . Do you think they're attractive?"

Parvati laughed. "I like men and I like women. I don't like veela."

Ginny giggled. "Oh what were Fleur say."

"Probably that veela don't want to be attractive to women anyway, they just want women to be envious of them. Which could be true, you never see any lesbian women ogling them."

"So it's not just that you don't find them attractive, it's that you find them unattractive?"

"They just. . . they don't seem like women. Women are warm. Veelas seem cold and dead inside. Far to self-centered. And, there biggest flaw is that they appear to have no flaws. Everything on this Earth has flaws, and the Veelas are no exception. Besides their eyes are bloody creepy. I prefer brown eyes."

"I like green," Ginny said thoughtfully.

"I wonder why," Parvati said sarcastically. "Alright I think I'm done- wait! Just one more touch." She grabbed a spray bottle on the counter and lazily sprayed it over her creation. "You look amazing Ginny."

Ginny stood up and Parvati stepped out of her way so she could see herself in the mirror. She grinned widely. "Parvati thank you!" She threw her arms around her. "I don't know what I would have done without you," she beamed.

"Try not to think of it," Parvati grimaced. "You would have had a horrible wedding. The most important part of the wedding besides from the bride's dress is the bride's hair. Speaking of weddings yours is gonna start pretty soon."

"Oh Merlin it is." Ginny sat back on her seat looking stumped and oddly ill.

"You okay Ginny?" Parvati hesitated to ask.

"Yeah. . . yeah I am. Can you get my mum and Hermione? I want to make sure everything's going okay."

"Sure Ginny. Just relax, okay?"

Parvati left the room with a small smile on her face feeling her stomach start to bubble with excitement. Parvati had always loved a good wedding.

X X X

She remembers waking up to her the next morning. What she remembers more, though, is freaking out. She had thrown herself at the mercy of three-headed dogs, been petrified by a basilisk thousands of years old, rescued a wanted criminal by illegally using a time-turner, and been tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange; all of which did not send her heart pounding against her rib-cage as hard as did the sight of Parvati Patil sleeping comfortably in her bed beside her.

She remembers the flood of memories that came next, all of which did nothing to slow her heart. It all comes flooding back in one wave from the sweet to erotic. She can remember nuzzling her nose against Parvati's neck, smelling the sweet scent of her hair and skin. Similarly, she remembers parting Parvati's legs and tasting the inside of her thighs. She remembers blushing like mad at the memory, being frozen on the spot, and her mind racing a thousand thoughts a minute.

_She'll hate me. She'll hate me! She'll think I'm a pervert, always sneaking a peak at her in a towel. How could I have been so obvious? How could I have been so stupid? Merlin, it'll never be the same anymore. How could things not be different. It's gonna be awkward as hell. How could I have gone down on her? Why did I do that? Damn why does she have to smell so good?_

She sits up making every effort to make no disturbance to Parvati. Even as she's freaking out, she stops and takes a minute to admire the beautiful girl sleeping next to her. Parvati was out of a dream. She was the girl out of those weird sex dreams that girls who don't even like girls have about other girls. She was pleasant to look at, easy to be with, and easier to kiss.

Hermione unconsciously touches her own lips and her thoughts, still going relatively fast, slow down a bit.

_Maybe she won't care. She said she wouldn't act different. . . She even said she was looking at me too! This isn't my fault if she pulls that card. She seduced me, didn't she? It wasn't the other way around. And she was the one that wanted to sleep in the same bed with me! _

_ But, no. . . I wanted it to happen. I should have been responsible I shouldn't have let this happen. This is all my fault she'll never look at me the same again. She'll probably freak out when she wakes up._

She remembers her stomach tying in knots as the thoughts continue to circle around her head each one suggesting something new and horrible. Inevitably, she decided that her and Parvati could never be. It was stupid, stupid, stupid. She was a girl who liked guys. Her family, her friends, the world would prefer her to like men. She didn't want to be rejected again. She was always the odd one out. She was a witch in a family of muggles, a mudblood in a world full of wizards, a know-it-all bookworm in a castle full of peers. Did she really want to be anything other than straight?

Parvati is an experiment, she decides. Does she want to stay with Parvati? No. She is starting to get mad, as if a switch was flipped inside of her, her thoughts change rapidly. Her heart is thumping against her rib-cage as fear of being rejected by last night's lover gets changed into a steady powerful beat pumping hate like blood through her veins. Her stomach ties in knots due to insecurity that feels like liquid hot humiliation was dropped into the pit of her stomach and was spreading throughout recesses of her body.

Parvati is nothing, she decides. She is a gross, fowl witch who seduced her to laugh at her. She is angry that the girl sleeping next to her manipulated her and Hermione resolves to refuse to give her the satisfaction of caring about her or the night they spent together.

Hermione doesn't know how long she is sitting there staring at Parvati with ever-changing thoughts arguing in her brain. She just remembers the last thing she thinks before Parvati began stirring awake.

_However this ends, my fall back will always be that she was nothing but an experiment. _Without explicitly thinking it, Hermione knows that this is her defense against Parvati when things go south.

As she sees Parvati stirring back from dreamland, Hermione's thoughts go completely blank as do her expressions. She observes Parvati blink awake on her side away from Hermione. The first thing the Indian witch sees is her empty bed across the room which causes her brow to furrow in confusion. Then she rolls over on her back and sees Hermione. Parvati's expression is confusion at first, then oddly blank as the events of last night steamroll her. Hermione tenses, wondering what is to come. Three emotions seem to overcome the rest: fear, insecurity, and anger. Whatever is to come Hermione knows it's going to be negative and she is mentally preparing an arsenal of verbal defenses and attacks.

What Hermione gets though, is something Hermione did not prepare for.

Parvati's blank face goes into realization from the memories of last night. As if slightly embarrassed at how her breasts are nearly visible through her thin top or maybe at how affectionate the gryffindor bookworm was to her last night she rolls from her back to her stomach in a somewhat protective state and buries half her face in the pillow similar to how a timid toddler would hide behind a parent's leg in the presence of strangers. She smiles shyly, her perfect teeth touching the cotton fabric of the pillow as she looks coyly at her new lover and speaks in a soft cracking voice appropriate for someone newly awoken.

"Hey, Beautiful."

Hermione blinks. It goes without saying and goes without thinking that Parvati is not a one-night stand product of some bi-sexual experimenting. Hermione does not consciously think it, but she knows that Parvati has the potential to make Hermione feel something that she has never felt before. Something that is profound, and beautiful, and right despite what anyone might say. It is not something that Hermione has felt before and it makes her stomach turn-over and her legs feel weak. Likewise, it elicits such a response that it makes Hermione want to cry, and laugh, and climb a mountain at the same time-

"Hey Beautiful, the bride wants to see you."

Hermione stirs awake from her memory turning her head to see Parvati in the doorway. "Yeah, alright," she replies obviously distracted.

Parvati walks into the room, taking a seat on the cot next to Hermione. "Is everything alright Hermione?" she asks with concern.

"Yeah." Hermione gives her a girlfriend a smile. "I was just thinking. . . or remembering really, the morning after the first night we slept together."

"Oh," she responds and her eyes glaze over as she remembers. "I remember I was nervous as hell when I saw you right after I woke up."

"Yes, you buried you face in my pillow."

Parvati laughed which in turn elicited a laugh from Hermione. "Yeah, I remember that. I probably looked really stupid now that I think of it."

"You looked cute, Parvati. . . like a pygmy-puff," the other girl teased.

"Now you're just making fun of me," Parvati said with mock accusation.

"I can't help myself. You always laugh when I tease you and I love you hearing you laugh."

Parvati turned her gaze away from Hermione, her eyes dancing in the now afternoon light. "Really, you love my laugh? Well, is there anything else you love?"

Hermione lied her hand on top of Parvati's that was holding the mattress. She curled her fingers through the spaces in between Parvati's and held it.

"There's a lot of things. I could write a book about it if I wanted to."

"Longer than Bathilda Baggshot History of Magic books? Those things could weigh down a dragon I swear."

"Those are written great. It's light reading if anything-"

"That is not light reading, Hermione. But anyway," she said trailing the sentence as if she was trying to change the subject as she saw Hermione getting ready to defend Bathilda's honor. There was actually something very much on her mind especially since her conversation with Ginny.

Hermione knew it was coming before Parvati hinted further. "We're gonna talk about it now, aren't we?"

Parvati nodded and caught a strand of Hermione's hair in her hand twirling it around her fingers before letting it fall through her fingertips. "We have a few minutes," she said, "I wanted to wait until after the wedding, but-"

"But you want to know," Hermione finished for her to which Parvati nodded. Hermione took in a deep breath trying to find a good place to start. She exhaled slowly. "I'm really sorry, Parvati. I- I just never thought I'd end up with a girl. I feel like I've been thrown this loop."

Parvati sighed, "Yeah I know you're not comfortable with it. Why though, what's so wrong about us?"

"I'm really happy about us, Parvati- I really am- I wish I would have had some warning. My parents. . . well they always thought it was kind of wrong. My aunt was left by her husband after fifteen years of marriage because he wanted to be with a man, I mean that does not exactly paint a pretty picture. And, my friends, well they all say they're okay with it but they don't have any friends who are in same-sex relationships so. . . I mean you don't really know they'll react do you? They might not have a problem with it, but that doesn't mean they won't treat me different even if they don't realize it-"

"You're scared," Parvati said frowning at Hermione's ranting.

Hermione shook her head. "No, I'm not scared. I'm terrified," she said decisively biting her lip and looking at her girlfriend's concerned and sad expression. "I feel like I've been caught," Hermione ventured. "If I tell them about us I'm risking the approval of all of my family and friends, but if I don't tell them I risk losing you. I really, _really_ don't want to lose you Parvati," Hermione said grabbing her girlfriend's hand. "I know each day I keep us a secret you pull away a little more." Parvati started to shake her head, but Hermione continued insistent. "I know it's true even if you don't say it, or think it explicitly, I know you consider leaving me on the spot because you think I don't care about you. . . and, I mean, you have every right to think that-"

"I don't-" Parvati started, "I don't think about leaving you. I think that you're gonna leave me. I know a million people have said it already, but if your friends and family don't love you for who you are then they don't love you. To me though, it doesn't matter who you are. I care for Hermione because she is you. I don't care for you because she is Hermione. I just feel like you're picking people, who you're not even sure care about you, over me when you know how much I do." Parvati hesitated, but continued. "This is who you are Hermione. A part of you is very attracted to me and there's nothing wrong with that. If someone thinks it's wrong and lashes out at you I would take care of you. I'm not going away."

Hermione felt something hot forming in the corner of her eyes. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand like they were irritated. "But, these are my parents Parvati and the friends I've had for years."

"We can go slow," Parvati promised slowly. "We won't rip it off like a band-aid. We'll _hint_ at it first."

Hermione blinked, and Parvati caught the tear trailing down her lover's cheek with her finger. She wiped it away and looked at her seriously, lightly rubbing her cheek. "We can't be together forever in a secret. We can keep it a secret for a while though. We'll compromise okay? That's what people in a relationship do so we'll give it a try. I won't demand you tell everyone about us as long as you take baby steps to eventually do it." Parvati vaguely considered telling her about Ginny guessing but decided to keep that to herself for now. When she starts getting nervous about taking the steps, Parvati decided then she would tell her.

"Baby steps," Hermione considered increduously.

"You've already taken one," Parvati pointed out. "When you grabbed my hand in the staircase. Mrs. Weasley could have easily turned her head and saw us, but you did it anyway."

"I guess I did," Hermione said in amazement. She felt Parvati's other hand grab hers and squeeze tightly.

"I really want to be with you Hermione, if it means hiding out for some time longer I'll take it. Just know though, Hermione, if you ask me to go. . . I don't play games, not with someone I care about as much as you, so If you ask me to go I'll leave."

Hermione shook her head unbelieving to what she was saying. "I'm not going to say that," she said dejectedly finding it hard to look at her lover's face.

She felt a hand nudge her chin implying for her to look at Parvati. "Just in case," she said softly and ended by lightly kissing her lips. "Of course," Parvati said lightly and jokingly trying to lighten the mood (they did have, after all, a wedding to attend to shortly,) "You would be absolutely mad to send me away. I could tell by the way you looked at me the first time you saw me naked that I was absolutely the most hottest thing you've ever snogged."

Hermione gave her a shy smile, the thoughts of the somber conversation being overtaken by a more happy memory. "You were," she said blushing at the memory. "You are."

Parvati winked at her, "I look that good that, eh?" she said referring to Hermione's deep blush.

Hermione just laughed. "Yeah," was all she could think of to say.

"Well, you know there's still a bride downstairs waiting for her maid of honor," her girlfriend reminded her.

"Alright, I'll head down. Are you coming to see Ginny too?"

"No," Parvati said as they sat up and starting making their way out of the room. "But I'm gonna find Luna and Fleur and try not to use Imperio on Fleur to make her cut off her own hair."

Hermione rolled her eyes as they started making their way down the staircase. "I'm sure Ginny would be thrilled about that."

"I think it would be the perfect wedding present, aside from how amazing I made her hair look."

Hermione snorted. "It better be amazing, doing hair was the only thing I ever saw you and Lavender do besides talk about boys and doing make-up."

"We are simple beings," Parvati grinned. "Speaking of hair though, yours looks good too."

"Well, there's this girl you see, and she really likes when I do it this way."

"A girl? Hmm why is this girl so important that just her liking it can make Hermione Granger drop her books and grab hairspray?"

"I really don't know," Hermione said honestly. "She just blew me away, and I was happy she did."

Parvati smiled and stopped at the bottom of the staircase next to her lover. "I don't know either," she confessed shyly.

Hermione beamed and admired her the girl standing next to her. Her dark, straight hair, her petite chest, her nice swaying hips. She had a body that killed wrapped in a simple lavender dress. She could not wait to undress her out of it. Hermione bit her lip.

Parvati's eyes narrowed curiously. "What are you thinking about?"

"You."

"You know Ron's gonna ask you dance," Parvati said changing the subject abruptly like it had been on her mind awhile.

Hermione frowned and looked down worriedly. "Yeah I thought about that."

"You can dance with him you know, I won't care."

Hermione looked back up and saw a small sad smile on Parvati's lips. "You know George is gonna ask you dance."

"Oh?"

Hermione nodded. "It's okay if you dance with him."

Parvati nodded also. They stood awkwardly by one another which was quite strange for them. They never felt awkward when they were alone together.

Hermione shifted her body down the corridor to where Ginny and Mrs. Weasley would be as I way to suggest that she better get going. Parvati noticed it and nodded, but as Hermione turned to leave Parvati stopped her.

"Not all the dances though," Parvati blurted out. Hermione turned her head and caught Parvati's eye. "The last dance," Parvati stated seriously her dark eyes sparkling and her jaw clenching, "I want you."

Hermione nodded, feeling butterflies fill her stomach at the thought of it. It was not coming out to her friends and everyone there, but it was a first baby step. Indeed no one would think anything of it since by that time everyone would have had too much fire-whisky, but even if she was intoxicated Hermione knew it would be an important start.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: As always I own nothing.**

**I could have probably skimmed this chapter down, but. . . I wrote it so it's here. Next chapter has Hermione in it more and the chapter after that has sex so woot woot!**

* * *

><p>The wedding was beautiful. Ginny looked gorgeous and Harry looked happier than Hermione had ever seen him reminding her of when she had first met Harry on the Hogwarts Express all those years ago. Who would have thought as eleven-year-old Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood in the compartment together that they would have gone through hell and back together. Indeed if someone had told an eleven-year-old Hermione what the next seven years of her life would be like, she would not have believed it. <em>Break all of those rules? Rubbish. And I would never skip out on my final year no matter what evil wizard was taking over the country. He can't stop me from taking my N.E.W.T.'s. <em>Maybe life was just like that sometimes, completely unforseen and unpredictable. When Harry pulled back Ginny's veil and kissed her, Hermione smiled. Never had she known anyone who deserved to be happy as much as Harry.

The photographer pulled the wedding party to the side shortly after to take pictures. It seemed that Harry had taken Ron's advice and had gotten a different photographer. This photographer was a woman who looked like she was in her thirties without the faintest interest in Parvati, rather she was eyeing Charlie with big eyes and obvious smiles. After twenty minutes Fleur started complaining.

"How long is 'zis going to take?" she demanded smoothing her hair.

Parvati scowled, looking like she wanted to torch Fleur's hair.

"I think all the pictures are nice," Luna said dreamily watching Harry and Ginny get photographed alone by the wedding cake.

"It shouldn't be much longer," Hermione said a nearby seat and rubbing her ankle. Her feet were killing her, she couldn't wait until she could toss the heels aside and wear something a little more comfortable.

Parvati went and grabbed the seat next to Hermione. She was staring absentmindedly at the side of the tent the wind flicking the loose gaps of fabric freely. "Hey who's that?" Parvati asked nodding towards a small space between fabric of a tent.

Hermione turned and saw a rather short man with a small camera focusing in on Harry and Ginny. It took Hermione a minute to process what she was seeing mainly because the camera did not look like a wizarding camera. It was small and portable looking almost as if it was a muggle camera, there was no flash, and no billowing of smoke once the picture was taken. "That's not right," she muttered. Without taking time to consult anyone about it she grabbed her wand, pointed at the short wizard, and said, "Accio camera."

The small camera flew into the tent and Hermione caught it. Several pairs of eyes turned as the camera fell into Hermione's hand, and swung back to the origin of where it came from. The short wizard stood frozen in place. Ron took a step forward and then the stranger, as if remembering that he should try to escape, turned to run pulling out his wand to disapparate in the process. Ron ran forward and pulled out his wand yelling a jelly-leg jinx before the wizard could apparate away, and the wedding party watched as Ron pulled the wizard in the tent dropping him on the ground a few feet away from Harry and Ginny.

Hermione and Parvati got to their feet as the rest of the bridal party hovered around the snooping wizard. Even the guests who had left the tent so the pictures could be taken started slowly creeping back in wondering what all the commotion is about.

"Who are you?" Ron started pointing a wand at him.

"I- I was just-" he stuttered his face turning red. Hermione frowned feeling a bit bad for him. He was a dumpy sort of guy that looked like he had hardly gotten any exercise. On top of that he looked like he had no confidence, no smarts, and only a small patch of brown hair to call his own on a nearly bald head. For all intents and purposes, he reminded Hermione of what Peter Pettigrew would have been at forty years if he had not gotten involved with Voldemort and had aged gracefully as pathetic sad-looking men do.

"The press was not invited to this wedding," Harry said interrupting his stuttering comments. "How did you get past the security?"

The dumpy wizard just looked at Harry in awe and his face grew a deeper shade of red.

"You're also on private property," Ginny said holding Harry's arm and backing him. "If you don't tell us how you got in, we're going to press charges."

"Spit it out!" Ron said impatiently pointing his wand at him.

Finally he stuttered. "In-invisibility charm."

"We have a perimeter," Harry replied pressing further. "It shouldn't matter if you're invisible you shouldn't have been able to get in."

"You have a perimeter to stop invisibility charms on the land," the wizard replied shaking. "Not- not the sky."

"Slimey little git," Ron said disgusted as a look of realization dawned on Harry's face.

"_Smart_, slimely little git," Parvati corrected him impressed.

"We'll throw him out for you Harry," Charlie said stepping up and grabbing the wizard by the forearm as Bill grabbed the other arm.

"And, we'll tell security how he got in so they can improve this," Bill added.

"Thanks," Harry said to them smiling a little as he watched the his new brother-in-laws drag the wizard away, not giving him the decency to undo the jinx so he could walk on his own.

Ron turned to Hermione once the wizard was gone. "What is that?" he asked looking at the small portable digital camera in Hermione's hands.

"It looks like a muggle camera," Hermione said holding it up. "Although he may have jinxed it to take magical photos. From what I understand though, it's hard to do that with this design." Hermione looked at the photographer to see if she had anything to add.

"It can be done, although for higher quality photos you're not going to want to use a muggle design especially that one. If you're just trying to get some pics that a magazine will want to buy though, I mean, some kind of picture is better than no picture," she said shrugging, "even if the picture won't be as clear and there will be some lag in the movement."

Harry took the camera from Hermione. "The Dursely's use to have a camera like this," he said frowning. Ginny took the camera from Harry and pointed her wand at it so it fizzled and sparked, clearly broken. She set it on the table and gave her new husband a testing smile. "It's our wedding day," she said smiling. "Forget about that stupid git, Charlie and Bill will make sure it gets taken care of.

Harry gave her a small smile and pulled her in a small chaste kiss on the side of her mouth. "Alright, let's get things started then."

xxx

The dinner included all of Harry's and Ginny's favorites. It reminded Hermione easily of Hogwarts, not just from the feast that lay in front of them, but because after the ceremony the banners had changed from the simple lavender color of the ceremony to banners of red and gold. There was even a gryffindor lion emblem behind the wedding party's table as if there was any doubt of where the choice in change in color came from. In addition, many people from Hogwarts were there. Everyone who had been a part of the D.A. were there including some older gryffindors such as Oliver Wood and Alicia Spinnet. Hagrid was there also taking almost half of the circular table along with a few of his fellow teachers including McGonagal, Sprout, and Flitwick.

"It's like Hogwarts all over again, isn't it?" Parvati asked gesturing towards the atmosphere around them.

"It definitely feels like it," Hermione nodded, looking at the girl sitting next to her.

"So are you nervous for the speech?" Parvati asked taking a bit of treacle tart.

Realization dawned on Hermione's face. Then horror. "Parvati I completely forgot about that! What am I going to do?"

Parvati didn't say anything but burst out laughing instead.

"Parvati, please!" Hermione hissed. "This isn't funny."

"Oh on the contrary, I find it hilarious."

"What am I going to do?" Hermione asked faintly.

"Wing it," Parvati suggested.

"I don't 'wing it,'" Hermione said offended that Parvati could even suggest such a thing. "I prepare for things. I meticulously prepare for anything and everything that could happen."

"I know you do," Parvati said rolling her eyes. "This might actually be a good exercise for you. . . oh don't look at me like that, you look like you're gonna cry. If you really want some help on it maybe you should go over and ask Ron what he's doing. I mean yours can't be worse than his."

"Right," Hermione said looking sick and slowly standing up.

"Go," Parvati said giving her girlfriend a slight push in the right direction. Parvati watched her girlfriend walk timid over the other side of Harry at the groomsmen table. She tapped Ron on the shoulder who was busy devouring a chicken leg. Even if he was propped up on a high table in front of all the guests he did not seem to think it was important to eat nicely. Upon seeing Hermione, he swallowed and from the look on his face it was painful. Parvati smirked as he started coughing on his food, but he quickly excused himself so he could talk to Hermione.

They walked towards the edge of the tent. Hermione had her back to Parvati, but she had no doubt just confessed her lack of preparation to Ron who first looked surprised then started bursting out laughing. Hermione hit his arm angrily, and Ron controlled his humor and pulled out a piece of parchment from his dress robes. He gave her the paper like it was a secret to his success which made Parvati roll her eyes. She couldn't imagine anything profound coming from Ron Weasley. He pointed to a couple things on the paper and Hermione looked up and nodded. She took the paper to read it, and Ron looked down at the paper as well as if he was doing the same thing, but slowly let his gaze wonder up to Hermione instead.

Ron took no trouble to hide his feelings in the look he was giving Hermione. Hermione was, of course, paying no attention as whenever she read something she was absorbed in it no matter how boring the material was. Parvati felt her blood boil watching Ron look at Hermione. _Didn't he know Hermione was hers? _She scowled, but Ron paid no attention. His attention was absorbed completely on the bookworm in front of him as if he was trying to memorize every line on her face. Parvati was very familiar with that look. It was one Hermione had given her often their last year at Hogwarts when she thought Parvati was not paying attention. He licked his lips and lifted his hand lightly and pulled a strand of hair in front of her face to behind her ear to which Hermione looked up and Ron smiled and said something. Parvati cursed herself for being so bad at reading lips.

"Parvati are you okay?"

"Hmm?" Parvati involuntarily took her eyes of the pair in the corner and saw that Ginny was the one speaking to her a couple of seats to her left with a concerned look on her face.

"Why are you standing is something wrong?"

_Standing? _ "Oh," Parvati said feeling awkward as she sat back down wondering when exactly she had stood up. "I'm fine Ginny thanks," she said giving her a reassuring smile.

Ginny gave her a small smile back and turned back to Harry who said something and laughed. By the time Parvati redirected her attention back to Hermione, she noticed the pair were done and were making there way back to their seats. Hermione had a piece of parchment in her hand.

"What's that?" Parvati asked trying to sound disinterested as Hermione sat back down.

"A list of love quotes. Apparently Ron has no speech, but he's gonna pick a quote and wing it off of that," she said looking down at the parchment.

"That sounds dumb," Parvati said bluntly. "I bet they're the most cheesy quotes too. Let's see," Parvati said snagging the paper. "Okay, 'Come live in my heart and pay no rent.' How they hell do you make a toast around that?"

Hermione crinkled her nose and made a sappy face. "That's kind of cute."

Parvati rolled her eyes. "I've heard better."

"Really, like what?"

"There was one I heard one time. . . it was like 'Alcohol is like love. The first kiss is magic, the second is intimate, the third is routine and then you take the girl's clothes off.'"

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I would never say that quote at a toast in a wedding. That doesn't sound like love at all."

"It worked for us," Parvati said pointedly and Hermione made a face, obviously not pleased at all about that comment. "Anyway I would never say any quote about love at a wedding."

"Why not?" Hermione asked wondering why girlfriend was getting worked up about this.

"Because," Parvati said sorely, "you could never explain love in a quote. That would simplify love too much. There's a reason people write books about love and tell stories about love because there's no way you could condense it in a sentence. There's too many parts to love, there's too many things to say about it. You can't define love."

Hermione sighed. "So what do you suggest I do Parvati?"

Parvati shrugged. "I don't know. If I were you I would have prepared for it."

"You are very irritating right now."

Parvati laughed. "Just say tell them good luck, and wish them to be happy. Every toast is more or less the same Hermione, don't get too worked up about it."

Hermione sighed getting worked up about it and wondering very deeply what she should do about it. Once the food was mostly cleared Hermione stood up and tapped her glass with her wand sending a reverberating chime throughout the room.

"What are you doing?" Parvati asked looking up at her surprised as her girlfriend stood up in front of her.

"Winging it," Hermione replied sourly. She pointed her wand at her throat and said, "Sonorus."

"Hello if I could have your attention everyone." Hermione's voice was amplified throughout the room. "I'm Hermione, friend of the bride and groom and Maid of Honor, and I think I'm going to start the toasts tonight.

"So I met Harry on the Hogwarts Express in our first year, and I would never have guessed that we would have became the close friends we became. I'm pretty sure he couldn't have guessed it either because, well, I came on a bit strong and I mostly annoyed everyone at Hogwarts my entire first year."

There were a couple laughs from the guests and the wedding party. Parvati seemed to find it particularly funny.

Hermione continued the speech as such, interjecting memories to what she was saying and occasionally there were some weak laughs. She felt a bit like she was ranting and with the tough crowd downing the drink in her hand and sulking felt like the best idea. Rather abruptly she concluded, "Now if we could raise a glass for Ginny and Harry that they have a long and happy marriage."

Everyone took a sip with a loud cheer, and Hermione downed her glass and sat down. She coughed a little bit afterward to which Parvati laughed and said, "Nice one."

"It was generic," Hermione said frowning, "laced with weird memories I used to try and make it unique."

"Nahhh," Parvati replied sarcastically which received her a light punch on her shoulder. "Everyone cheered at the end."

Hermione sighed as she watched her champagne glass magically fill up again. "The only reason they cheered was because it was over."

"It'll be better than Ron's will be," Parvati said. "I predict it."

"Well we'll find out now," Hermione murmured as Ron stood up to address the guests.

Ten hilarious minutes later Ron sat down as everyone clinked their glasses together and drank merrily.

"At least you don't have to follow that up," Parvati said as a way of comfort.

Hermione gave her a sour look. "You're a terrible seer Parvati Patil."

xxx

Parvati took a swig of butterbeer and eyed her best friend watching Seamus Finnigan like he was a piece of meat. They were sitting at one of the round tables that had been pushed off towards the side once the dancing had started. The dinner was long since over and they were watching the money dance from the side- or rather Parvati was watching Hermione dance with Harry, while Lavender was sizing up Seamus as he danced with Ginny.

"Well Parvati, I think I found who I'm gonna have my classy one night stand with," Lavender said biting her lip flirtatiously.

"Yeah, I've noticed you stalking your prey," Parvati said rolling her eyes. "You've known Seamus for years Lavender and you've never even dated him-"

"We went to the Yule Ball together," Lavender reminded her, "and we had a thorough snogging session."

"I distinctly remember you talking non-stop about it for weeks on end. If you sleep with him tonight are you not gonna shut up about? Cause I want to know if it's in my favor to support this or pull all stops to keep this from happening."

"Shush you. . ." Lavender said with a smile. "Anyway are you gonna dance with one of them," she gesturing towards the newlyweds.

"Oh I don't know," Parvati said with a sigh. "I'm trying to figure out which one _to _dance with. I mean Harry looks pretty hot tonight, but I remember him being a terrible dancer. Ginny looks really pretty in that wedding dress though, but I don't know if I want to go against the expected norm- Lavender are you listening to me?"

Lavender waved her hand at her like she was listening as she continued to follow Seamus with her eyes. "There he goes, he's going towards the bar," she said more to herself than Parvati. "Well, Seamus, I know how much you like to make things explode, maybe tonight I'll requite the favor." She downed her butterbeer and headed her way towards the bar to find something a bit more strong as her best friend rolled her eyes.

Parvati's attention traveled back to the newlyweds. Hermione was no longer dancing with Harry but was talking to George Weasley on the side of the dance floor. As if they were talking about her, George and Hermione glanced at Parvati at the same time, and Parvati noticed George looked quite pleased as if he thought he had caught her staring at him. Parvati pretended not to notice and made her way to the floor to dance with Harry. After a waiting for a few dances, Parvati's turn came and Harry greeted her with a smile as she placed a galleon in his dress robe's pocket.

"I wonder," Parvati started as she placed her arms around Harry's neck and he put his hands on her waist, "if you would have danced with me at the Yule Ball more if I had payed you to."

Harry laughed lightly. "Unfortunately, it probably would not have worked. You would have just been broke and had sore toes by the end of the night."

"Yes, you weren't the best dancer," Parvati agreed with a smile. "You've gotten better though, you're not looking at your feet at all, and you've haven't stepped on any of my toes yet."

"Well, Ginny insisted I take some dance lessons, and I'm very glad I did. Otherwise, I'd be in bloody hell right now."

"Dancing is not that bad," Parvati scoffed.

"I'd rather face dragons," Harry said solemnly. "Speaking of unpleasant situations, I heard you got my wife out of a bad one earlier."

"I tried to help, and I'm good with hair."

"She said I should thank you for making her look so beautiful." Harry surprised Parvati by grabbing one of her hands and lifting it up, giving her a slight twirl as he pulled her back towards him. "Of course I would think she looked beautiful if she showed up with a shaved head, but her hair does look very nice."

"Well, anyone who has gotten so much better at dancing simply with a few lessons deserves to have a bride with beautiful hair," Parvati said still slightly surprised at Harry's suaveness.

"Ginny's really glad she asked you to be a bridesmaid, and frankly so am I."

"The wedding was really nice Harry, and this reception is as good as they come," she said eyeing Hagrid dancing with Ginny ten or so feet away.

"Consider it compensation for the Yule Ball. I hope you have a better date here."

"The person I'm with is pretty brilliant," Parvati consented with a smile. A moment later they were interrupted by a tap on Parvati's shoulder. Luna had come up for her turn with Harry but instead of knuts, sickles, or galleons she had a single long, grey feather.

"Er- thanks Luna," Harry said awkwardly as she stuck it in his coat pocket.

"It's a feather from a griffin. It's supposed to bring good fortune and strength for the relationships in your life," Luna said dreamily. "I suppose it will be helpful towards you and Ginny."

Parvati excused herself as Harry gave her a funny look. She was walking towards the side of the dance floor when someone called, "Parvati!"

She turned her head and saw Dean Thomas walking towards her. "Dean!" she said throwing her arms around him in a hug. "I haven't seen you since school, how have you been?"

Dean shrugged. "Pretty much the same," he said with a smile. "How about you? You know we never all went to those muggle movies I told you about. Remember how we always said you, me, Seamus, and Lavender were going to go?"

Parvati hit her forehead remembering. "Oh, that's right. I completely forgot about that. How come we never did?"

"Don't know, but I'll tell you what I'll talk to Seamus about it then owl you. It's been far too long since we've all hung out together."

Parvati agreed and the two walked to the bar together to get some drinks. They ordered and took a seat on some stools as the bartender gave them their drinks.

"So what have you been up to, Parvati?" Dean asked as he took a sip from his goblet.

Parvati took a swig of a sweet, fruity drink from her straw. "Well, I got this internship at St. Mungo's for nursing. It's pretty interesting, I like it a lot. Although, you wouldn't believe the stuff people end up at St. Mungo's for- this guy the other day had a hexed toilet seat stuck his arse. He was sent straight to the healers, but from what I understand it was not a very pleasant removal."

Dean laughed. "Yeah I'm sure."

"I'm trying to get into the children's ward though, I filled out an application to be trained there. Right now I'm doing a little bit of everything, but I'd rather be trained to nurse kids."

"You're really good with kids," Dean complimented her remembering how she had come to visit him one summer and had taken quite easily to Dean's younger half-siblings.

Parvati grinned biting the straw between her teeth. She took a sip of her drink and asked Dean what he had been up to.

"Advertising," he answered. "I'm trying to build up a name. I've been around a lot of the smaller business owners in Diagon Alley, but I'm slowly moving up. I draw logos and portraits- things like that- and then I bewitch them to move and such. If you've been to Diagon Alley lately and passed Madame Malkin's there's a big poster on the window- the little girl and boy in Hogwarts robes- I drew that."

"Me and Lavender we're just there the other day! Merlin, Dean you did that? It looked brilliant!"

Dean shrugged sheepishly. "It was my biggest job yet. I did one for Borgin and Burkes in Knockturn Alley once," Dean shivered. "They must not have known I was a half-blood or surely they would not have hired me. I was kinda desperate at the time though, so I took it."

"I hate Knockturn Alley," Parvati agreed. "The people there give me the creeps. I always have my hand on my wand if I ever go down there."

"Yeah hopefully I can keep getting bigger jobs and avoid that place. I'm hoping to one day open a studio and just make art and sell that for a living. Anyways, how's you sister doing? I haven't seen her in a while."

"Oh Padma, well you know her. She was always studious in school and now she's always working. She's in India now actually, she's working with a team that are trying out new magical herbs- you know research and the like. I always joke that once she stops research she's going to end up at St. Mungo's as a healer and I'll be her nurse. She definitely has the head for all that healer stuff- and the N.E.W.T.'s."

"Ah, so I guess I'll have to count her out for the movie then," Dean said with a smile. "Good for her though, sounds really interesting." Dean took a swig out of his goblet and set it down. "So how did you end up being a bridesmaid? Did Harry take more fondly to his Yule Ball date then I remember?"

Parvati laughed. "Hardly. It was more like Charlie came back from Romania last minute and they needed a bridesmaid stat. I think Hermione put my name in the drawing."

"You know I don't mean to be mean," Dean said with a grin, "But I thought it was the weirdest thing when you two became good friends. All I think about is how you and Lavender always tried to hide her potions book before class our third year, and how she always found it anyway."

"I completely forgot about that," Parvati said with a smile. "She was way too high-strung that year though, it was too amusing to not do."

"So what's she been up to then? She's Hermione Granger she should be trumping all of us right now with the number of N.E.W.T.'s she got."

"Oh she has an internship at the ministry. It's in the Muggle Abuse Regulation office- a side office from the Auror office. She's just an intern now, but she basically goes out and detects wizards that are mistreating muggles with their magic for sport, or out of ignorance, or abusing them just to hurt them. She said most of the muggles they find that have been affected by magic are from other offices in the ministry. Like, if a muggle sees magic and a team goes out to give them memory charms they take years of memories by accident or carelessness instead of just a night or a day. Apparently, it's very tricky to undo spells like that when it's been cast by someone else."

Dean laughed. "Yeah, I think Hermione's job beats my pipe dream."

They chatted for a while longer sipping their drinks and reminiscing. Shortly after the dance floor was open to everyone and a fast-song was playing. Dean downed the rest of his goblet. "Care to dance?" he asked he hopped to his feet. He held a hand out to Parvati in a very gentile manner that made Parvati smile. She agreed and they both made their way to the dance floor which was growing thicker with people by the minute. Everything was going fine, except for the fact that Dean had almost been plowed down by a drunk Rubeus Hagrid that was dancing with Minerva McGonagall, until a slow song started. People broke off into pairs almost immediately. Seamus and Lavender, who they had been dancing near, broke off as did Neville and Luna, and Oliver Wood and Alicia Spinnet who were also surrounding them.

Dean seemed to notice this and almost blushed as he looked at Parvati. He held out a hand, "Do you want to dance Par-" he started, but was interrupted by a prompt approach from George Weasley. He grabbed Parvati's hand and waist and pulled her into a dance.

"Hi there Gorgeous," George said to Parvati as a way of greeting. Dean looked like he had swallowed a slug. Parvati half-expected him to walk away without saying anything as he was not usually an aggressive person even if he had been wronged and humiliated. Tonight, however, he wasn't really having it.

"Hey," Dean said hardly, grabbing George's arm and stopping the dance. "She was going to dance with me."

"Why? Did she say she was?"

"Well. . . no," he responded flustered.

"Well then I'm dancing with her. She's hardly complaining."

"You didn't even ask her!" Dean said getting angry. "You just came in and grabbed her. You don't just grab whatever woman you want to dance with and assume she'll dance with you!"

"As I said," George said with a smirk, "she's hardly complaining." He shrugged off Dean's arm. "Maybe you should have made your move sooner"

Parvati scowled, not appreciating in the slightest how they were talking about her as if she were not there. She was about to pull away when she saw Ron and Hermione dancing together across the floor, and momentarily forgot about the two boys arguing in front of her. Ron looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself, having pulled Hermione close to his body, but Hermione had the most peculiar look on her face. The expression was not quite bored, but not enthusiastic in the slightest. She looked as if she was remembering and considering something almost thoughtfully, but with little effort as if she did not want to put so much energy into thinking about it. While Parvati was busy deciphering Hermione's expression George had let Parvati go and by the time she turned her attention back at the two boys she noticed they both had their wands drawn and were looking daggers at each other.

"For the love of Merlin!" she said exasperated as the two boys were gaining attention by the other couple's dancing around. Charlie, in particular, seemed to notice and made his way over.

"Hey, what's going on?" he demanded from them eyeing his brother and Dean's raised wands.

"Well, this git here thinks he can just come up and interrupt any couple he wants," Dean started angrily.

"They were not a couple," George said with a smirk. "He hadn't even-"

"I don't want to dance with either of you!" Parvati said loudly getting angry. "You both talk about me as if I'm not even here. You just assume I'll dance with whoever wins the argument, Merlin, you two are insufferable!

With that and a glare, Parvati stalked off the dance floor and made her way outside the tent for some fresh air. She was half-expecting Dean or George to follow her, but after a couple of songs passed she figured Charlie had stopped either of them from approaching her and she internally thanked him for that.

xxx

It was not until a few songs later that someone had come outside looking for Parvati, and it was the last person she expected and not one she was too keen to talk to.

"Hey Parvati." He strode next to her and stopped at her side facing the thicket of trees as she was.

"Ron," she said as way of greeting.

"Charlie told me what happened," he said slowly and caught her eye. "Sorry about George he can be a bit straight-forward and, well, he hasn't been the same since Fred died. He's really lonely."

Parvati stiffened a little at the mention of Fred. It was days like these, with a wedding going on and everyone laughing and drinking, that the mention of the war seemed like a dream- as if it had taken place in some far away place a long time ago rather than at Hogwarts a couple years ago. Parvati did not really know how to respond to this, obviously Ron had suffered losses more than Parvati had. Both her and Padma made it through alright and Lavender, of course, was luckily saved by Hermione.

"I'm not saying that to excuse his behavior," Ron said quickly. "I'm just trying to explain it."

"You can use it as an excuse," Parvati said slowly. "You and your family lost a lot more than I did."

Ron scratched the back of his neck. "I miss Fred a lot sometimes. I miss George and Fred together actually, I mean what a pair of gits they were. . . It's not so bad some days, but others- well and there was Tonks and Lupin, Moody," he added as an afterthought with a sad smile. "I don't know if you ever had met Tonks. She was pretty cool."

"Hermione's mentioned her," Parvati said remembering. "She's the little boy's mother right, the ring bearer's?"

"Yeah, Teddy. The war, I mean, it had to happen it was inevitable. If it had gone on any longer a lot more of us would be dead right now."

Parvati nodded in agreement.

"Well anyway," he said scratching his neck again and changing the topic. "Hermione was looking for you, I told her I'd check outside."

"Ahh, right," Parvati said feeling awkward. Talking about Hermione with Ron Weasley of all people would always be uncomfortable. He was after all, intent on being with her. "I guess we should go back inside then," Parvati motioned to turn and leave, but was stopped by Ron.

"Parvati- wait," he said nervously. He gave her an almost pained expression. "Ginny won't tell me anything- she says she doesn't know- but you're good friends with Hermione, so can I ask you something?"

Parvati's thoughts screamed _NO!_ but her mouth didn't cooperate, "Okay."

"I know I messed things up with her, but I want to patch things up. We've been friends for almost a decade, and we've been through so much together. I know she feels something towards me- we've been through hell and back together it's not something she'd forget about- I just don't know what."

Parvati waited for him to continue, but he had stopped talking to look at her imploringly. "What do you want me to say Ron?" she asked after a minute.

"Well, when does she want to get back together with me?"

Parvati opened her mouth to respond, but stopped and gawked at the lanky red-head in front of her.

"I know we'll get back together," Ron continued. "I mean we've just been through so much there's no way anyone could know her better than I could. We're well, we've become perfect for each other in a way- no one could understand her better than I do."

Parvati felt partially slapped in the face. Of course, she knew that he had no knowledge of their relationship, but even if he had he probably would have still said it. And, If he had said it in malice, Parvati could do very little but agree because it was true. Parvati could not remember the last time they had talked about the war, and Hermione had certainly not ever told her what her, Harry, and Ron had been up to the entire year leading up to the battle. Every time she alluded to it, she changed the subject or had said very bluntly that she was not in the mood to talk about it. Ron was there, he knew what they had been up to- this part of Hermione's life that she had just erased whenever Parvati asked her about it. She even had this scar slightly below her wrist that said "mudblood" in untidy scrawl, that she had never told her about no matter how many times she asked. Ron, Parvati figured, probably knew what that was about too. And, all the things that had happened to Harry like his previous encounters with Voldemort before the final one? Parvati was in the dark about everything. It was in that moment that she could not help but realize how very little she knew about Hermione, and how very much Ron did. Never had she once felt threatened by Ron's affection towards Hermione until now.

"Parvati," Ron said snapping her out of her reverie. "Well?"

Parvati did not have the faintest clue what to say, but her mind invented something and spewed it out, "Well if you know her so well Ron, why are you asking me? You obviously know her better than I do." Instead of sounding bitter and resentful when she said it, it actually sounded like a compliment.

Ron smiled.

"You really like her, don't you?" Parvati asked not at all wanting to hear the answer.

"I love her."

Parvati smiled for Ron's sake. As they both walked back towards the tent Parvati acknowledged the fact that her girlfriend might be better off with Ron, and once Hermione realized that Parvati would be alone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

**Reviews are always appreciated, so please do!**

* * *

><p>Although the thought of her and Ron bothered her, it was hard to stay somber as she was greeted by a quite giddy Hermione. Apparently she had had a couple of drinks since she had seen her last seen her. No one, however, was quite as far gone as Lavender who was in the middle of giving a rather unattractive lap dance to Seamus. Parvati chose to ignore her best friend's behavior and rather focused on her girlfriend. Unfortunately, she was taken away far too soon by Ron once another dance started and Parvati marched to bathroom as she saw George and Dean eyeing for her in the crowd. She was at the sink redoing her eye make-up when Lavender stumbled inside.<p>

"Parvy!" Lavender exclaimed seeing her friend and addressing her with one of her the many obnoxious drunken nicknames she had for Parvati.

"Hey Lav," Parvati consented with a smile.

Lavender made her way over to the sink. "Where've you been? I've been missing your face."

"Avoiding Dean and George," Parvati said rolling her eyes. "I swear the last thing I need is the two of them fighting over me."

Lavender giggled. "Are you avoiding Hermione too? She's been looking for you- keeps asking me about you."

Parvati frowned remembering her conversation with Ron earlier. "Lav, can I ask you something serious?"

Her friend tried to construe her expression into a somber face, but succeeded in only making an uncomfortable one. "Can I pee first?" she asked.

Parvati rolled her eyes. "Of course you can."

Lavender gave her a gleeful smile and went in one of the many empty stalls and slammed the door. She was in there little over a minute, and let out an appropriate sigh of relief. She slammed the door open after the toilet flushed and made her way over to the sinks where Parvati was waiting with a bemused expression on her face as she washed her hands.

"Better?"

Lavender sighed. "I think if I held it any longer I would have exploded."

"Alright, so can I ask you that question now?" Parvati asked a little impatiently.

"Ask away my dear," but her eyes weren't very focused and she became preoccupied by a picture of a daisy on the wall.

"Lav, focus!" Parvati said, snapping her fingers in front of her face.

"Hmm?"

Parvati gave her an appraising look, and Lavender furrowed her brow and concentrated hard on her Parvati's face. Parvati could have laughed at the effort her friend was bestowing to focus her attention on her.

"Do you think Ron and Hermione make a good couple?"

Lavender shrugged. "They're alright I guess. I think I liked her and Krum better though, Krum- Krum was way hotter and that accent! Mmmm. . . yeah Krum, definitely Krum-"

"What I'm getting at," Parvati started deciding to get very blunt. "Is do you think she's better off with Ron than with me?"

"What?" Lavender asked taken aback. "Why?"

"Because he knows her so well, and well he's a guy so she's more comfortable with that-"

"Bloody," Lavender flustered trying to find a word to go with that. "Shite!" she decided. "Bloody Shite you can't honestly think that! No, no, no Parvati you two are hot together, and cute- she always blushes around you it's infectious makes me want to love you too."

"But Ron-"

"Is a git! No, no trust me I've been with Ron. He's slow on uptake, has no tact, sloppy kisser, does not understand the point of foreplay-" Lavender went on with her mental list saying things that Parvati did not want to hear (which was a usual occurrence when she was around a drunk Lavender), "All over my face one time-" was the last thing Parvati heard before she stopped her.

"Okay! Okay! I get it and Ron is insufferable. . ."

"No, you and Hermione are better, besides she smiles more around you."

"She does?"

Lavender nodded. "Of course she does. What's wrong Vati?" she asked with concern her eyes growing big.

Parvati looked away insecurely to which Lavender pulled her into a big hug. "You're a beautiful, sexy, smart, sexy girl. Hermione loves you, she wants you."

Parvati hugged her friend back. "Thanks Lav," she murmured as they pulled out of the hug.

"So let's go," Lavender suggested. "I bet she's looking for you- keeps saying she wishes she's seen you more tonight."

Parvati nodded with a small smile on her face as they made there way to the door.

"We need to get you a drink too, you aren't happy enough."

Parvati laughed at that one, and Lavender slapped her hard on the arse, to which Parvati gave her an appraised look.

"You're right," Lavender said agreeing with the look. "I should save that for Seamus."

xxx

A slow song started. Parvati grinned from ear to ear upon hearing it. It was a favorite of Parvati's, one that Hermione had whispered in her ear as she was falling asleep the second time they had slept together. Hermione was never much of a singer, but when she whispered a song her voice went a notch deeper and it was smooth and timbre with the radio to back her, and Parvati couldn't think of anything that sounded better.

"Sound familiar?"

Hermione grinned and replied. "I think I remember holding a beautiful girl in my arms the last time I heard it."

Meanwhile, Seamus walked up to the table and left with a drunk Lavender who started dancing sloppily with her old schoolmate. Parvati observed her smiling. "I think she's had way too much to drink already."

"It is a wedding Parvati," Hermione said as she downed another fire-whiskey. Hermione was not much of a drinker. She drank rarely so when she did it did not take much time or alcohol until she got drunk. She tried unsuccessfully to hide a burp.

Parvati giggled. "Do you want to dance with me?"

"What?"

"Dance with me Hermione," she said with a gleam in her eye.

A part of Hermione was self-conscious of all the people around them and wanted to say no, but a more rational part answered for her instead. "Okay."

Hermione downed Lavender's abandoned shot as Parvati grabbed her hand and led her to the dance floor. Perhaps it was all the fire-whisky, but Hermione did not seem to mind who was watching them as Parvati pulled Hermione's body close. She grabbed Hermione's hand in her own and intertwined their arms so Hermione's forearm was pressed firmly against Parvati's front and her hand scraping the bottom of Parvati's cheek. Parvati smirked feeling her own arm against Hermione's firm breasts. With her other hand, Parvati hooked Hermione around her back right above her arse and pulled her closer suggestively. Hermione mirrored her lover giving her a quircky grin as they moved their bodies intimately together with the music.

Behind Parvati, Hermione could see that George and Dean had stopped arguing and stood jaw-dropped at the sight of Parvati dancing with another woman rather than one of them. Both of them looked at a loss of what to do, worried that one might interrupt the girls to take her hand in a dance before the other did but uncertain if they should just stop and enjoy the sexy slow dance the two girls were doing instead.

"George and Dean-" Hermione started.

"I don't give a damn about George and Dean, Hermione," Parvati said laughing. "All I give damn about is you," she said a bit louder as the slow song hit a high note.

Hermione smiled wickedly, and said the first thing that popped into her mind. "I like your skin!" she said loudly and bluntly over the music.

Parvati did nothing but laugh at that statement. Hermione smiled and laughed along with her lover feeling as light as a feather and as if nothing could bring her down.

"You're drunk." Was Parvati's short and true reply.

"So," Hermione countered. "It's still true! Alcohol makes me honest. Seriously, though," Hermione continued not letting it go, "I love your skin. It's so nice and dark. It's dark but not too dark- it's like dusk before nightfall. I think it's the contrast I like the most."

"The contrast?"

"Well you know," Hermione explained in her drunken un-eloquent state as the two of them swayed with the music. "Your teeth are white and your skin is dark. It's sexy when you get out of the shower wearing a white towel because it stands out- the contrast. You know like us- I'm milky white and your dark and it's beautiful," Hermione concluded with a nod and a blissful grin and gestured towards their intertwined arms showing the contrast.

Parvati giggled. "Like yin-and-yang?"

"Nope, like Parvati-and-Hermione."

Parvati giggled again and ended up snorting to which Hermione heard and continued further complimenting Parvati. "I like it when you snort too. And, you're laugh lines. Nothing is more beautiful than a girl like you laughing so much she gets lines from it."

Parvati gave her girlfriend a curious look. "I think it's the alcohol but I'm liking all the compliments. I think I need to get you drunk more often."

"Maybe, yeah- no. But, yeah, I just really, really, really, really, really, _really_ like you."

Parvati didn't know what else to do but laugh. "I like you too, Her-"

"Excuse me."

Parvati felt a tap on her shoulder. It was George and to his side was Dean.

"We were wondering," George started. "Which one of us you would like to finish off the dance with? Now, I know it's not much competition," George said ignoring Parvati's blank face, "But I decided to be the mature adult and give the boy a shot." He finished by playfully punching Dean's shoulder who looked sour that he had let George do the talking. "So who's it gonna be Parvati?"

Parvati blinked dumbfounded at the two boys. "Hermione," she replied like it was no competition. She gave Hermione a wicked grin and pulled her off to the corner of the dance floor as if to have more privacy.

"It's not the last dance," Hermione noted as they danced on the outskirts. She did not have to talk as loud as they were farther away now. "You could dance if you want with them."

"I don't want them, I want only you."

Hermione giggled and said quite honestly. "I like how much you like us."

Hermione saw Parvati grin at the statement, white teeth against dark skin, and then the room went completely dark as if someone had dropped peruvian darkness powder in the tent. The music went on unnoticed and in a moment of impulse Hermione pulled Parvati toward her and found her lips in the darkness. Parvati responded crushing her lover's mouth against her own. Their lips parted just as the faint glow of a patronus of stag appeared, followed by a patronus of a horse. Hermione smiled knowing that in some way Harry had planned this as he was a fan of the patronus charm. A few moments later she saw Ron's patronus follow his sister's horse as a terrier appeared. Hermione grabbed her wand and muttered her patronus as a few others were forming. Her otter took it's place among the others, drifting close to Luna's rabbit.

The tent was beginning to be illuminated by the glow of the patronus charms. "C'mon Parvati do yours," Hermione coaxed.

Parvati hesitated. "No, I can't Hermione, I've always had trouble with this one. The closest I ever got to it was in the D.A. and I never got past wisps of smoke."

"Parvati, you can do it. Just think of something happy. Are you happy now?"

Parvati nodded uncertainly.

"Then think of now," Hermione instructed. "Think of now and produce it. Just close your eyes."

Parvati did as she was told. She closed her eyes and held out her wand limply in front of her.

"Hold your wand with confidence Parvati. I know you can do it. I've seen you do amazing things before, the patronus is just gonna be another one of those things. Just think of how beautiful it is here."

Parvati held her wand with confidence, or at least tried to. Her lips were tight and thin in concentration as was her brow. "Expecto Patronum!"

Smokes of bright blue erupted from her wand, looking like it was in the process of forming a large animal but fell short and dissolved instead.

"Almost," Hermione encouraged. "Just relax and try not to concentrate so hard on being happy. You're happy now so just let that flow through you, it's not like a dementor is coming after you or anything."

Parvati gripped her wand tightly, but instead of furrowing her brow with concentration and terseness, she let a smile play on her mouth instead. _LIke yin-and-yang? Nope, like Parvati-and-Hermione. _She bit her lip to keep from grinning widely at the newly acquired memory and exclaimed, "Expecto Patronum!"

A majestic tiger erupted from her wand and took a lap around the tent. The powerful cat looked ferocious and lean but also playful and young as if it had been caught someone between childhood and adulthood.

"Hermione, I did it!" Parvati threw her arms around Hermione and watched as the tiger did a lap around them.

Hermione beamed. "I like it. I would have never guessed a tiger."

Parvati frowned. "Why not?"

Hermione giggled. "I figured you more of a butterflies and bunnies kind of girl."

"No. No absolutely not." As if it was listening, Parvati's patronus let out a low growl. To which Parvati smirked and said, "See he totally agrees with me."

Hermione chuckled. "I can see that." She pulled Parvati towards her as a faster song started and grinded herself against Parvati's body.

"Perverti!" Lavender shrieked the drunken nickname for her friend as she eyed the patronus of the tiger. "Did you do that? That's amazing!"

Lavender stumbled toward to the two girls finishing a drink in hand and slamming it on the nearest table. Parvati let go of Hermione and held Lavender up laughing.

"Had enough to drink Lav?"

"Nope," Lavender shook her head in an exaggerated way. "Maybe a few more. Anyway I saw you two dancing together earlier," she said pointing a finger at them and sniggering. "Very sexy, I'm a little turned on. . . actually I'm very turned on."

"You're always horny when you're drunk," Parvati said rolling her eyes.

"I know isn't it great? Oooh Seamus, Seamus!" Lavender called across the dance floor. "Where did you go? Dance with me!" she commanded as she left her two friends and started making her way towards him on the dance floor tripping over her feet as she did so.

The reception went on for a couple more hours. The guests disappeared slowly, by the time the last song was playing only the wedding party and a select few of the younger guests remained. At a corner table in the back Hermione and Parvati were sitting with Lavender who was deep in a snogging session with Seamus. Hermione cleared her throat, feeling very awkward as Lavender started moaning and Seamus' hand was crawling ever slowly up Lavender's dress. She felt her face go red and tried not to pay attention. Parvati noticed Hermione's discomfort and was growing ever more irritated by the couple anyway that she grabbed Hermione's hand from under the table.

Hermione jumped, obviously not expecting it which caused Parvati to smile. "It's the last dance," Parvati reminded her. "I want you."

Hermione gave her lover a tired smile. The alcohol was wearing off fast now, but the thought of touching Parvati seemed to rekindle something else. They stood up and Hermione started leading her lover to the dance floor, but Parvati saw Ron looking for Hermione and pulled her to the side of the tent.

"What is it?" Hermione asked confused.

"Let's go outside," Parvati murmured seductively, leading her lover through the flap of the tent. Hermione grinned and allowed herself to be lead outside feeling the cool grass beneath her feet as she had taken of her painful heels quite a while ago. They went around the back of the tent toward the edge of the small thicket of trees that stood there. Parvati stopped there and twirled Hermione around once until she pulled her closer moving to the faint sound of the slow dance they could still hear.

Hermione rested her head on Parvati's shoulder breathing in the scent of her skin. "Sorry if I'm sweaty," Parvati apologized. "It was hot in there."

"I think it's sexy when you're sweaty," Hermione responded. "Besides I'm sure I'm just as bad."

"Not a chance," Parvati murmured smoothing back Hermione hair so she could kiss her ear. Hermione shivered. "Are you cold?" Parvati asked concerned.

"No," Hermione responded shaking her head slightly. "Sometimes I just shiver when you touch me."

Parvati smiled. "You know I'm sorry for earlier."

"Hmm?"

"When I was getting all worked up about the quote thing. . . and then I said that stupid quote about taking the girl's clothes off. That's not like us at all. The third time I kissed you it wasn't routine. It still made my heart jump like the first time I kissed you. . . it still makes my heart jump when I kiss you now."

Hermione raised her head so it was level with Parvati's and rested her forehead against hers. She grinned wickedly. "But, you still took my clothes off."

Parvati's lips curved as if she was trying to suppress a smile. "I- I did, but-" she hesitated and continued. "Maybe I thought it was about sex at first, but when it was happening it didn't feel like sex. It felt better. It felt more. . . significant."

Hermione closed her eyes and rubbed her nose affectionately against her girlfriend's. "I know," she said remembering her thoughts on that from earlier in the day.

"And, I said that stuff because I guess I got a little mad at how Ron was looking at you too."

"Ron?"

Parvati nodded slightly. "He was looking at you like I look you. How you look at me when you think I'm not looking."

Hermione gave her lover a small smile. "You don't have to worry about Ron, you know. I plan on being with you for a quite a while."

Parvati nodded and bit her lip.

"What is it?" Hermione pressed.

"Ron, he, well- he knows you a lot better than I do," Parvati explained, but Hermione just gave her a blank expression prompting her to continue. "With all that stuff that happened to you, Hermione the year before the war- and the years before that for all I know." She lightly fingered the scar on Hermione's wrist causing her lover to squirm uncomfortably at the touch.

"Well maybe I like you Parvati," Hermione reasoned, "because you don't know all that. It was really refreshing being with you Parvati, because you didn't take the time to look through all the baggage. So, you don't know everything about me. You know enough about me now, and as for Ron- he may know things about me that you don't, but he doesn't know everything you do about me. I was never as affectionate with him or as happy with him. Our relationship was building up with jealousy and hurt feelings for years, and because death was so prevalent leading up to the war we eventually just acted on it prematurely with the assumption we would die any minute. We did not build it thinking we would be together for a long time Parvati. We were both pleasantly surprised we made it through alive, and then, well you know not a year later our relationship fell apart."

"I just feel like there's this whole side of you that's a complete mystery and if I don't know it, I won't ever know you."

Hermione sighed, thinking very hard about. In all honesty, she was not to keen in reliving her past seven years to Parvati. It was a lot to put into words and where was she supposed to start? _In a polyjuice incident second year I basically got turned into part-cat, _she imagined telling her,_ oh and fifth year I was attacked by a brain in the Department of Mysteries. Fast forward a couple years and I'm being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange. _The only resolve was that she didn't have to tell her anything about her love life fourth year since it was _so _well documented by Rita Skeeter.

On the other hand, Parvati did have a right to know didn't she? She's been patient with Hermione's coming out although not always happy about it. She was the one that took the risk, that initiated their first night together, that didn't think Hermione was going to stab her in the back the next morning and kept their friendship and relationship going. If it was important to Parvati, Hermione thought she should at least put an effort. However, some of the memories made her stomach squirmed uncomfortably- the Malfoy Manner standing out in her mind like a sore thumb. Count in the months on end camping out, the fiasco at Godric's Hollow, and the fear and anxiousness that persisted every day of that horrible year, and Hermione was not so sure anymore. Finally, she consented.

"It's really hard for me Parvati, but if it's really important to you. . . we'll just take it slow though, okay?"

Her girlfriend nodded, looking worried. "I-I have something important to tell you," Parvati said nervously.

"You know you can tell me anything," Hermione murmured.

"I don't want to tell you now though. . ." Parvati said evasively. "You have the next few days off right?"

"Yeah I took a some days off after the wedding, I don't go to work again until Wednesday."

"Good because I'm kidnapping you tomorrow afternoon."

"I never thought I would be so thrilled about being abducted," Hermione joked. "Where are we going?"

"That's a surprise," Parvati said pulling her lover's body a little closer and letting her hand travel lower down her back.

"What are we going to do there?" Hermione teased pushing the bad memories out of her head and focusing on the goddess in her arms. She turned her head so she could nibble on Parvati's neck, marveling at how easy it was just to lose herself in Parvati and feel alive.

Parvati smirked. "Use your imagination."

"And, what important thing are you going to tell me?" she said planting a kiss on her jawline.

"You'll have to wait and see," Parvati said making her eyebrows jump suggestively before she smiled widely.

Hermione chuckled a bit and rested her head on her lover's shoulder once more.

"You know I had a lot of fun tonight," Hermione mentioned as they continued to move slowly with the music.

"The night's not over," Parvati reminded her. She lightly touched her jawline prompting Hermione to look at her. Parvati licked her lips and lightly brushed Hermione's with her own. Hermione inhaled in anticipation waiting for what was to come next. Parvati pressed her lips against Hermione's cheek, then let her teeth tease Hermione's earlobe until she moved on and started kissing Hermione's neck seductively letting her tongue lick down to her collarbone. Hermione grabbed her lover's face in her hands gently rubbing her cheek with her thumb.

Hermione licked her lips and locked eyes with Parvati. She wanted to say a lot to her. She wanted to tell her that she cared about her, but more than that. She wanted to tell her she was beautiful from the inside out, that she never imagined she would be this lucky to be able to even get a passing glance from the prettiest girl she had ever seen. She wanted to tell her this, but she wanted to dig deeper- to tell her that she was feeling something she had never felt before. That she was suspecting that this feeling was something she had heard again and again in muggle bedtime stories and television shows. Instead of saying any of that though, all she said was, "Please Parvati."

Parvati obeyed knowing exactly what her lover was after and brought her lips to Hermione's, softly at first and then in fevered anticipation. As the last slow song played it's final last notes, the two lovers were oblivious to it. All they knew in the moment were themselves. They did not even notice someone in the thicket who had been listening and watching the entire time.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I'm trying to Imperius J. K. Rowling to sign over the writes to me, but it's not going too well so I still own nothing.**

**Let me know what you think! Enjoy. Also if you see any mistakes I'd be happy if you pointed them out to me.**

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><p>Hermione groaned as she tried to roll over on the small bed, she was stopped however by a slightly groggy Parvati who gave her a blurry-eyed look. Both were glad that Luna's cot remained empty, and Luna had decided to go home after the wedding instead of spending one more night at the burrow.<p>

Parvati grumbled something and put her arms around Hermione, nuzzling her nose in her hair.

"Mmm, morning Vati," Hermione sighed in her pillow.

"Morning, 'Mione," Parvati sighed. "You're hair smells like trees." She made a face as she felt something prickly scratch her nose. She picked out a small twig and showed her girlfriend. "You still have twigs in your hair."

Hermione snorted, "I wonder why."

The memories of last night came back like a warm breeze. Both girls smiled softly at remembering.

Parvati was kissing her near the thicket of trees, slowly at first then with growing passion. Hermione could taste the alcohol on Parvati's lips as they pulled themselves closer together exploring every inch of their mouths. That was when Parvati decided exploring just the mouth was not enough. Parvati grabbed her lover's hand and led her into the thicket of trees, far enough from the perimeter to not be seen, but not too far inside that it was too dark. Hermione did nothing to protest, as Parvati slammed her body against a tree and impulsively grabbed her breasts through the dress material. She felt a groan escape her lips, as Parvati pulled down her lover's straps and tugged the dress down to her mid-drift exposing creamy round breasts whose hard nipples enticed Parvati's tongue to taste them. "Par- Parvati," Hermione groaned loudly unable to control herself. It had been so long since she's had the touch of her fellow gryffindor it was dizzying.

Parvati crushed her lover against the tree unable to contain herself. She felt as if she was trying to become one with Hermione. Eager grasping wasn't enough, Parvati wanted to be inside her lover, to be one with her. She pulls her closer hoping to slide right into her skin as she gropes her. She is sorely disappointed and decides a way to settle her frustration. She hikes up the fabric of Hermione's dress causing a slight rip to be heard, but Hermione wants Parvati to do what she is about to do so much that she hardly cares. The indian girl kneels on the dirt and grabs onto Hermione's thong with her teeth, and pulls it down in one swift motion.

Hermione shivers as the cool night air drifts between the wet spot between her legs. Parvati smirks as she sees a string of her lover's juices slide down her leg. She already knew it before, but that is just more evidence of Hermione missing her. She arches her neck and sensually licks the arousal off of Hermione legs and stops just short of the place of origin. Hermione moans as she feels Parvati's breath in her moist private area.

For a long time Hermione thought oral sex was gross. Having someone lick and suck you down there, she thought, really did not seem like love or even caring for the other person. She changed her mind in an instant of course the first time she was with Parvati there was nothing else she wanted to do except kiss the place that few have kissed. She was saying without words as she went down on Parvati that she loved her, every inch of her. More so, she was saying that she loved her sexuality too, and that feeling sexual was a beautiful part of her that Hermione supported full-heartedly. That by kissing her there, she was hoping to make an intimate connection unique in it's own way. Hermione thought of this as Parvati hovered her lips around Hermione's other set of lips. "You're. . . you're so beautiful Hermione," Parvati murmured looking at her girlfriend's dripping sex. "I want to make you feel even more beautiful."

Before Hermione had a chance to respond, Parvati threw her tongue inside Hermione forcefully. Exploring the inside of her folds and faintly feeling Hermione contract as she drew in ragged breaths, Parvati felt Hermione's body slide down the tree as if the pleasure was too much to stay standing. Leaving the inside of her lover, but never taking her tongue off of her, Parvati licked Hermione waiting until her mouth was fully salivated before she slathered Hermione's clitoris in a sloppy wet kiss. She tried to hold her lover up as Hermione slid even further down the tree, her body wracking in pleasure, her abdomen clenched and flexing. Unable to support Hermione, she guided her down to the base of the tree until she was sitting down leaning against it and Parvati spread out on the ground grabbing Hermione's legs and continuing her fantastic oral sex job.

"Parvati-" Hermione choked unable to stand the pleasure she was feeling.

Parvati did not nothing but moan in her lover's legs in response.

"Parvati I'm gonna cum," Hermione breathed. Parvati did nothing but increase the speed of dexterity of her love making, pushing her face deeper inside the wonderful place that was between her lover's legs.

Hermione told her in a deep ragging breath when she came, but she needn't have. Parvati could feel her lover's legs shaking around her shoulders, feel the flexing of her muscles as she had a hand on her girlfriend's stomach, and the faint squirt of more juices being added to cocktail of juices already on Parvati's mouth.

They were both breathing hard as Parvati slowly removed herself from Hermione's legs and sat down at the base of the tree next to her lover. Hermione glanced unbelievingly at Parvati who was fingering the wetness that remained on around her lips and chin. She said almost shyly, "You always taste good, but you cum too fast."

Hermione grinned still breathing deeply, as she guided her lips to her own and tasted herself on Parvati. She groaned deeply. "You taste better," Hermione decided after the liplock ended.

Parvati's eyes twinkled in the dark. "I would argue that. . ." she said taking in the sight of a very exposed Hermione Granger. The bookworm groaned and pulled up her thong as she pulled down the skirt of the dress, and pulled up the top to cover her breasts.

"Was that really necessary?" Parvati asked sounded disappointed. "I knew I should have just tore the whole thing off."

Hermione grinned. "I would have just fixed it, just like I'm gonna have to fix how dirty our dresses got."

Parvati frowned looking at the sight of their dresses covered in earth. Hermione picked a twig out of her brown hair that was getting bushier as the night wore on and smiled. "You're insane Patil, you know that."

Parvati rolled her eyes, "Like you weren't dying for it Hermione," she said with annoyed affection. "You know it's been like three weeks since we've had sex."

Hermione sighed. "Mostly my fault, I know," she said thinking of how busy she had been with the wedding and at the Ministry.

"Well around tomorrow and Monday we'll make up for those weeks," Parvati promised with a mischievous grin.

"When you kidnap me?"

"Of course. I'm gonna do things to you Miss Granger, that'll blow you mind."

Hermione giggled as she stood and held her hands out to help the other girl to her feet. "It sounds kinky. I like it."

xxx

"So where exactly are you guys going?" Ron asked.

Hermione, Ron, Charlie, and Bill were crowded around the kitchen table of the burrow. Mrs. Weasley was hastily filling everyone's plates with hot cakes and sausage.

"I'm not sure. It's been hectic the last couple of weeks though that we haven't had the time to see each other much. I'm looking forward to the girl's night."

"You're lucky. Since Harry's gone I have to wait to have my boy's night," Ron said sarcastically.

"We're here, what are we chop liver?" Bill asked with a mouthful of sausage. In fact, sausage (extra rare) was the only thing on his plate.

"Raw liver," Charlie said distastefully, eyeing his brother's plate.

"You're my brothers you don't count," Ron said waving it away.

"Alas I guess we aren't Harry Potter. . ." Bill said grinning.

"How long are they going to be gone anyway?" Hermione asked realizing she never had asked Ginny how long the honeymoon was going to last.

"Three weeks in Bermuda," Ron answered. "Honestly, though, staying in one place that long you'd think they'd get bored of it."

"I doubt they'll get bored," Parvati said entering the kitchen. "It's their _honeymoon_- _Bermuda_ is only the half of it."

Ron's expression grew queasy and he shut up. Bill and Charlie looked disgruntled too. "You just had to say it at breakfast," Charlie said pointedly. "It's hard enough to stomach Bill eating raw meat."

Parvati giggled as she took a seat next to Hermione. "Sorry, it won't happen again."

It wasn't long before Mrs. Weasley had a plate of ham and eggs to pass around and George came down. Before long, George's antics (bewitching a raw sausage to dance the salsa around the table) had everyone laughing and talking loudly. Mrs. Weasley sat down and Mr. Weasley came in the room and joined everyone.

"Careful," Hermione said loudly handing Parvati a plate over the guffaws of the loud brothers. "It's hot."

"I touch you all the time and I seem to do just fine," Parvati said coolly and loud enough so that only the brunette witch could hear.

Hermione rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless.

"So where are you and Hermione going?" Ron asked turning to Parvati before shoving a forkful of hotcakes in his mouth.

"Oh well," Parvati smiled turning to look at Hermione. "We're going camping."

Ron started choking on his food and thumped on his chest. He grabbed his goblet of pumpkin juice and washed the foot down his throat. "Camping?" he asked incredulously.

Parvati couldn't help but get offended by his tone. "What's wrong with that?" she demanded.

Ron laughed. "Oh nothing, but if you knew Hermione you would know she never wants to go camping again."

Parvati turned to Hermione for an explanation, a face full of confusion and hurt. Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but then shut it, not knowing what to say. She gave up on Hermione and turned back to Ron, "What's wrong with camping?" she demanded again.

"She's slept in a tent enough for a lifetime," Ron said like it was the most obvious thing.

"Well, maybe I've gone camping enough with you and Harry for a lifetime," Hermione interjected surprising herself. "It might be nice to go camping with a girl for once, she might help out with the cooking or at least not complain about it." The last part came out a bit harsher than she expected, and Parvati gave her lover an impressed look. Ron looked like he was going to retaliate but then thought better of it and took a drink from his goblet instead. "So when are we leaving?" Hermione asked Parvati before taking a bite of her eggs.

"As soon as you want. . . around noon maybe," Parvati answered. "I just got to figure out how we're gonna take all our bags with us.

Hermione swallowed thoughtfully. "Leave that to me. I've got a good charm for that."

"You've got a good charm for everything," Parvati said rolling her eyes in an affection way.

"You could too if you studied more," Hermione reminded her smiling.

"Study?" Ron put in with, yet again, another mouthful of food. "I thought we graduated Hogwarts."

Parvati snorted. "That hardly matters. I think I've been studying more now that I'm out."

"How do you expect to be an auror, Ron," Hermione said in a business-like tone. "if you don't study? It's not easy."

"Especially recently," Mr. Weasley put in, "surely you've noticed the problems with dark wizards arising recently. Nothing in league of Voldemort of course, but enough are trying to rise up and fill in his spot will the same ideals. The ministry needs aurors that will get rid of this problem before it gets out of hand."

"So, basically if you flunk out Ron you've damned the wizarding world," Charlie added teasingly. "And you're going to have to find a new career."

"There's always room for one more flunkie at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes," George put in with a grin. "I actually just put in a couple ads around Diagon Alley that we're hiring. Even a couple of magazines too."

"Which ones?" Mr. Weasley asked with a tone of interest.

"Oh you know, Witch Weekly, Witch Beauty. . ."

"Interesting choices," Bill said sarcastically. "Since those are all obviously joke magazines."

"I'm not looking for comedians," George said solemnly. "I'm looking for a pretty witch to make the business come a-calling. We have plenty of employees who know the merchandise, I reckon now I need a pretty girl to make customers want the merchandise."

"George!" Mrs. Weasley said in a scolding tone.

"Sorry mum, that's business. Speaking of which though, where's the copy of Witch Weekly? I want to make sure they use the entire page for my ad. They cut it in half last time."

"It hasn't come yet dear," Mrs. Weasley replied with a sigh. "They've been sending it late recently. I'm going to have to owl in a complaint if they keep doing that."

"You know Parvati," George said turning to her. "If you ever want a job you wouldn't even have to do an interview."

Parvati gave him a dull look. "I think I'm good, thanks."

xxx

Around noon Parvati and Hermione were ready to leave. They had said their good-byes and thank you's to the Weasley's and were upstairs straightening their things. Hermione stuffed clothes and the tent Parvati had borrowed from her Uncle into the same beaded bag she had used when she was hunting horcruxes. Parvati watched in amazement as the assortment of things fit easily in the bag.

"You're brilliant," Parvati said looking at Hermione with new eyes. "Absolutely brilliant."

Hermione laughed. "It's a simple charm. I'll teach you sometime. So where are we going?"

Parvati just smiled and grabbed her girlfriend's hand, holding her wand with the other. "I'll tell you when we get there." A moment later they apparated away, and when the world stopped spinning she was standing with Parvati in a familiar looking forest. The name was on the tip of her tongue when Parvati announced, "We're in the Forest of Dean."


	8. Chapter 8

**Somewhere between working, studying for finals, and being sick I managed to write this. Hopefully you like it. Also if there are any mistakes I'd be happy if you let me know so I can fix them :)**

**Also thanks to chaosrin, warrior-of-water, kleipoppetje, and numberedheartbeats17 for reviewing in the past and anyone who's favorited or have signed up for story updates. A special thanks to chaosrin who always points out my mistakes. Since I don't get this beta'd I appreciate it.**

**Please Review, Enjoy**

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><p>Hermione certainly had mixed feelings about being in the Forest of Dean. On one hand it had been a great turn of luck for her and Harry when they needed it most. On one hand, Ron had come back and they had gotten the Sword of Gryffindor. On the other hand it was the refuge they had taken from Godric's Hollow when Voldemort's snake had nearly killed them and Harry's wand had broke. The forest, however, still looked beautiful. It was bare from the snow and bitter cold that had inhabited it the last time she had been there, but still had the charm- the nostalgia from when she had been there with her parents as a child and the mixed feelings about when she had been there last with Harry and Ron.<p>

"What made you pick this place?" Hermione couldn't help but ask as she let go of Parvati's hand and walked a few steps ahead taking in the sight of the forest.

"Oh my uncle suggested it. He said it's one of the best forests in Britain. Certain charm to it, he said. So, what do you think?" Parvati asked excited.

Hermione did not know exactly what to say, instead she just stared at Parvati and concentrated on her as she answered. "Beautiful."

It was not before long until they had the tent set up and Parvati insisted Hermione close her eyes before entering. "Why?" Hermione protested.

"Stop whining," Parvati commanded. "It's a surprise," she giggled.

"Hmm," she mused. "Ow!" she exclaimed as she tripped over the tent opening.

"Hermione!" Parvati yelled as she bumped in Hermione who fell inside the tent floor and Parvati consequently fell on top of her.

Hermione grumbled and took in the sight of the tent as she rubbed her elbow. The tent looked almost exactly like their Gryffindor dormitory. Hermione lied there openmouthed.

"Like it?" Parvati asked as her girlfriend took in the sight of the scarlet tent centered around a four poster-bed.

"Of course," Hermione answered. "I've loved it for seven years." Hermione could remember the first time she walked into the Gryffindor dorms all those years ago. In a way, Hogwarts would always be a second home to her. It was, after all, the place she grew up.

"My uncle was in Gryffindor too. The only one in his immediate family to be in it. His mother and my mum were both in Ravenclaw. His dad and my other uncle were both in Hufflepuff. He quite prided himself on being in Gryffindor- was really happy when I got placed in it too."

"So he just let you borrow the tent then?" Hermione said rolling over on her back and supporting her self with her elbows as she looked at Parvati.

"Oh well you know, he just said I better bring my own sheets," Parvati said with a grin. "But other than that, yeah just lended it to me."

Hermione gingerly stood up and held out a hand to her girlfriend her took it with a smile as she helped her up.

"So uh. . ." Hermione said eyeing the bed. "What did you have planned for today?"

Parvati laughed. "No not the bed yet," Parvati said with a devious smile. "I actually chose the Forest of Dean for another reason. It's about a mile's walk to a muggle village which is just happening to have a festival today."

"Oh, you actually planned this," Hermione said with a grin. "And here I was thinking it was just all about the sex."

"Well. . . the festival _was_ an afterthought. . ." Parvati said as she put her arms around her lover's waist from behind and nestled her nose in her neck. "Although it's tempting to just forget about it now, but I really want to go there's something I want you to see there."

"Ugh," Hermione grunted feigning annoyance. "You always have to be so sweet and considerate. Why can't I just get laid?"

Parvati burst out laughing. "I know, I'm so very selfish. . . Maybe. . . maybe," she suggested getting a little more serious and kissing Hermione's neck. "We have time for a quickie before we leave. . ."

"Maybe?"

"Actually no, no," Parvati said shaking her head and checking her watch. "We should probably get going."

Hermione sighed. Half annoyed at her teasing and half amused at her commitment to her plans, she turned to face her lover.

"I promise," Parvati vowed solemnly. "When we get back we'll have a longie."

Hermione laughed. "I like the sound of that. Let's get going then."

They left the tent and Hermione placed some protective charms around it so no one would be able to see it or steal it. After that the two girls set off for a nice walk through the woods and to the village. The trees in the forest were slowly loosing their leaves and the forest floor was slick from the debris of them.

After a short walk the village could be seen and Hermione remembered the familiar sites and carnival rides of the muggle world. She remembered how much she had been entertained by the roller coasters and ferris wheels when she was younger, but after Hogwarts the thrills of a muggle carnival ride really could not compare to riding a broomstick, being on the back of a hippogriff, or riding on a dragon. Parvati seemed to find the muggle rides very amusing from afar but found them more intimidating up close.

"They're so. . . mechanical," she said keeping a good thirty feet from her and the largest roller coaster. "How do they know they'll work."

"The Hogwarts Express is mechanical," Hermione said pointedly.

"Yes, but. . ." she turned her gaze and was eyeing the ferris wheel before the ride next to it caught her eye. It was like the ferris wheel except for the open top carts were replaced by cages as it flipped upside down as it turned around. "The Hogwarts Express doesn't attempt to scramble me like an egg, nor does it look neglected and rusty."

"This is how muggles live dangerously," Hermione replied sarcastically. "Wizards fly on broomsticks and fight in wars, and muggles ride around on carnival ferris wheels that are constantly being trudged around the country and being ill-kept."

Parvati shivered and seemed to keep a general 30 foot distance between her and any ride.

"Anyway what I wanted to show you," Parvati said steering her clear away from the carnival rides, "was something a little less dangerous. My uncle- you know the one who lent me the tent- is something of a book collector. You would probably really like him- you two would get along- but anyway he tells me that frequently that old wizard books find their ways into the hands of muggles quite often because when books were printed by the 1700's they carried a security measure against muggles. It was a complicated little charm- if a wizard book was around the presence of muggles without the presence of magic around for too long the book would lose the magical properties. So, a book on quidditch rules, for example, would be translated to an ancient magical rune and the pictures would stay still. Basically, to a muggle it would look like a book of rubbish, but to a wizard it could not only be worth a lot of money but worth the reading material. Anyway, my uncle knows the muggle with the traveling bookstore. He sets up stands at carnivals and sells books and stuff. I thought you might like it- you know you like books so much just having an old book like that. . . you know it'd be so old and that charm isn't used anymore. . ."

Hermione mouth was slightly open in awe as Parvati explained. For one, she was telling her something about books Hermione seemed to not know. For two, what she said was incredibly considerate and she couldn't help but wonder just how long Parvati had this in mind.

"Well?" Parvati asked uncertainly.

"Parvati, you're the sweetest person I've ever been with," Hermione said confidently. She took her hand and the two went in search for the tent of books, that happened to be not too far ahead of them.

Once Hermione was getting started looking through the books Parvati got bored rather quickly. Despite Hermione grabbing her arm on occasion and beaming with delight as she found something interesting, books were not her forte. She distinctly remembers each time she was in the Hogwarts Library and she wouldn't need more than two hands to count them. About an hour later Parvati could not take it anymore and excused herself from the tent, telling Hermione she was going to buy them some food. She was incredibly happy Hermione was so enthusiastic about the surprise Parvati had planned for her, on the other hand she was hungry and wanted to walk around and look at all the funny things muggles had invented to do without magic.

She was passing a stand selling fried cakes when she saw something that interested her as much as books interested Hermione. It was a seer's tent advertising palm reading and crystal ball gazing. Parvati had heard Trelawney over and over talk about the rubbish muggles who claimed to have the sight, but she had also discovered (through her own reading) that sometimes muggles were endowed with the sight of wizards without having any other magical ability.

Intrigued, Parvati could not help herself, but to walk into the tent and see what this seer was made of. The food- she decided, her stomach bubbling with excitement now- could wait.

xxx

Hermione picked up a rather dusty novel and blew on it. Upon further examination she found it to be a rather old book- a biography of Rowena Ravenclaw written only a few generations after the founding of Hogwarts. She flipped through a few of the old, worn pages and took in the musky scent of the binding. It reminded her of being at Hogwarts again, amongst the library. The restricted section, in particular, had this style of book. If a style of book could be old, worn, and on the verge of crumpling apart beneath her fingers. But those books, she always thought, were the best anyway.

She brought the book up to the clerk who gave her a funny look as she paid for it. He obviously was seeing the magical ancient rune translation. Hermione tried to keep an innocent face as she took the book and left the tent, turning to the side of the tent to get some privacy as she shoved the large book in the small beaded bag. After which she straightened up and began her search for Parvati.

As she walked along the carnival she could not help but feel an impending sense of doom glowering at her back. That, of course, was the due direction of the Forest of Dean, which the longer she thought about it, the longer it felt like every tree was omniscient presence who knew her more than she knew herself. She could not deny the history of that forest. Harry and her apparated there after almost being killed by Voldemort's snake, Snape had come there to lead Harry to the sword of Gryffindor under the disguise of his patronus, and Ron had come back.

Ron had come back. Was that a good reason to hate the forest, the fact that it brought Ron back to her when she had cried and had been miserable without him? It was a good thing that Ron had came back. It was vital to the mission and at the time Hermione had been very happy he came back for other reasons, but. . . the place was uniquely significant for her and Ron and in turn it left an acrid taste in her mouth. It was not that she was mad and bitter that she had gotten together with Ron. She knew that if she had not she would have always wondered and now she definitely knew that things between them would have never worked out.

The acrid taste was. . . guilt perhaps? Guilt, because there was no way Parvati would have known that the last place she felt like camping out again was this forest. Mostly because she had consciously chosen not to divulge such information to her. _Oh the Forest of Dean you know, _she could imagine herself saying, _Well we stayed here awhile when we were hunting horcruxes, but we were caught by snatchers shortly after, and then taken to the Malfoy Manor. . ._

She continued walking idly around with guilty thoughts until something caught her attention. Parvati came out of a nearby tent arguing very loudly with a woman dressed like a gypsy. It was hard to distinguish what was being said although Hermione picked out the words, "Hag" and "Rubbish."

Hermione rushed forward and when she heard the words "inner eye," Hermione internally groaned. Only Parvati Patil (with the exception of Lavender Brown) would get into an argument with a muggle carnival fortune teller about the "inner eye."

Before Hermione had gotten to Parvati she had reeled around ready to leave when she noticed her girlfriend walking towards to her. "Hermione!" she said her cheeks turning red. Although it was very obvious she had no problem what muggles thought about her argument with the carnie, it was quite evident she had no intention of Hermione finding out.

Hermione greeted her and wheeled her around by the arm as the fortune teller said something in a language they could not quite understand and gave them a rude hand gesture.

"I should have known you would have started making friends the moment I left you alone," Hermione said grinning as she let her hand travel down Parvati's arm to link their hands together.

Parvati opened her mouth to reply but then closed it abruptly as if she didn't know what to say.

Hermione frowned. "What is it, Vati?"

"I- I feel dumb."

"Well, I can't imagine why," Hermione said jokingly.

"She told me I wouldn't be together with you much longer, and. . . I got mad."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "For Merlin's sake Parvati, she wasn't even a seer and you're listening to her."

"I wouldn't think it'd make a difference to you, Hermione if she had been a witch or not. You've always hated divination," she replied hotly.

"I. . ." Hermione hesitated. "I believe it sometimes," she grudgingly admitted thinking of Trelawney and her predictions that Harry had heard. "Why are you getting so mad at this?"

"It's nothing," she snapped.

"No," Hermione said stopping and forcing Parvati to stop with her. "It's not nothing or else you wouldn't be this upset. Tell me."

Parvati gave a hard look at the ground. "I just don't like people telling us we're not going to last." It was a true, answer. Parvati knew better than to lie to Hermione, because Hermione could easily spot it, but it was not the whole truth. She bit her lip and glanced up at Hermione who gave her an understanding look and a smile.

"Well for one, she doesn't know us Parvati, and secondly she's a muggle hack. Her crystal ball is plugged into an outlet. Besides when do you care what people think of us? I love that you don't care, please don't change that."

Parvati nodded slowly and it succeeded in vanishing Hermione's glum face.

"The whole book thing," Hermione said pulling Parvati's hand prompting them to walk again, "you know that was incredibly sweet."

"I'm guessing you got something then?" Parvati said raising an eyebrow. "I swear if it's a vanishing book- Padma had one of those once- always left it lying around and I always stubbed my toe on it."

"No, no it's not vanishing it's just here," she said raising the beaded bag. "It's a biography of Rowena Ravenclaw. It was written only a few generations after the founding of Hogwarts."

"Oh," Parvati said smiling. "So it's terribly accurate then?"

"Probably inaccurate," Hermione said smiling. "The author wasn't much of a historian, but it gives an interesting depiction of what the laymen thought about her."

"Sounds fascinating," Parvati said sniggering. "You'll have to tell me all about it."

They stayed at the carnival a few more hours in which Hermione tried unsuccessfully to lure her on a ferris wheel and Parvati successfully refused. When the sun started to slowly sink down in the sky they decided they had better go back to the forest to their tent.

Hermione was not much of a talker as they walked through the forest. Her mind was elsewhere, mostly on the happenings that took place the last time she had been there. All in all, she was not much in good company and Parvati noticed. To entertain herself, Parvati blasted a pile of leaves on the ground towards Hermione and they plume of dead leaves swirled around Hermione's face and stuck in her hair. Parvati giggled at the sight, but was reprimanded by Hermione's superior knowledge of magic which she had used to create a tornado of sorts. Parvati wasn't giggling after that, she was laughing incredibly hard instead clutching her sides as the fury of leaves swirled around her forming a large pile beside her which Parvati eyed quizzically. Before she could ask Hermione was at her side and had lifted her up and thrown her on the pile. After Parvati stopped laughing and giggling enough to function, she pulled Hermione hand and tugged her down with her. Hermione decisively positioned herself on top of Parvati and grinned.

"I don't know what I was thinking," Parvati said pulling Hermione closer to her as the remaining leaves circling around them died down, "picking a fight with the best in our year."

Hermione smiled. "I don't know what I'm thinking fighting back with the prettiest girl in our year. I should have just let her have her way with me."

Parvati grabbed her hand. "Hurry let's get back to the tent. It's getting dark."

It was true. The sun was setting behind the forest trees casting a long shadow across the forest floor. Hermione reluctantly removed herself from on top of Parvati and pulled her lover to her feet.

Hermione tried unsuccessfully to give her a piggy-back ride for the remainder of the walk, but ended up slipping on some slippery dead leaves and they both fell rather haphazardly on the forest floor. They finally made it back to the tent, still giggling and covered in earth and forest debris.

"Are you hungry?" Hermione asked as they made it in the tent.

Parvati gave her a devilish grin. "I could go for something soft, warm, and sweet," she said enveloping her in a hug. "Which reminds me, I think I made a promise before we left today."

Hermione grinned, but her stomach growled and betrayed her.

Parvati giggled, "But since you're actually hungry I guess it'll have to wait."

Hermione scowled. "I can make myself be not hungry."

"I don't think they make spells like that. There's some food in the cupboards- I stocked it before we left. You can make yourself something."

"What do you feel like?"

Parvati shrugged. "You're the hungry one. I'm gonna shower- just make enough for me though, I'll eat it after."

"After. . .?" Hermione asked.

Parvati just grinned and left for the bathroom.

Hermione rummaged through the cupboards and eventually settled on making some pasta. She had gotten much better at magical cooking upon leaving Hogwarts and having her own apartment. She heard the water start running in the shower as her noodles cooked, and ten minutes later she had a nice dish which she hastily scarfed down. She went to the vanity and tried fixing her hair and got a change of clothes. She needn't have worried though, Parvati was taking forever.

She consented on taking the book of Ravenclaw out of her beaded bag and reading, so she situated herself comfortably on the bed and opened the book. All that happened, however, was her staring blankly at the pages unable to concentrate. Finally, she heard faint footsteps and Parvati came out of the bathroom.

She walked out in a short silky bathrobe that just about killed Hermione. Parvati pretended not to notice as she made her way to the kitchen and dipped her finger the in the pasta sauce. "This taste's good," she said licking it off her finger. "I'm surprised you didn't eat it all."

"I was saving room for something else," Hermione said her voice oddly expressionless, if anything more husky.

Parvati grinned and made her way over to the bed, she slowly placed her body over Hermione's who eagerly put her arms around her back and kissed her softly on the lips. Hermione felt Parvati's hands at her neck, as she let who own hands explore the wonderful place that was her lover. Her left hand traveled upward capturing strands of her dark hair in her hand. It was already dry and incredibly soft (the result of some hair-drying spell no doubt), but Hermione loved her hair. She loved running her hands through it, never meeting resistance with a knot or tangle like she always did when she ran her hand through her own hair when she was reading or working. Parvati's hair was everything soft and smooth and it drove her insane.

Parvati let out a wistful sigh, savoring Hermione's touch at her neck after she ran her hand down strands of her hair. She loved Hermione's fingertips racing through hair and massaging her scalp. She loved how her fingertips were everything careful and controlled and how they teased her nerves at her neck and ear. She loved how Hermione's other hand was trailing ever slowly down her back and over her bum. She loved how her hand reached the end of the fabric and hesitantly and touching the back of her soft thigh, before gaining more confidence and trailing her hand up again, this time allowing her fingertips to travel underneath the fabric.

When Hermione's hand quaked with anticipation before she grabbed and massaged Parvati's arse, they both loved it. Hermione let out a deep groan and Parvati drew in a noisy breathe. Hermione's left hand was still trapped in the texture of Parvati's soft hair when she withdrew it and cupped her face in her hand prompting her lover to look at her.

"You know, you're beautiful," Hermione said seriously. "The most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

"You always say that," Parvati said shivering with pleasure, her eyes closed taking in every sensation her lover's fingertips were giving her.

"I always think it." Hermione said confidently. If Parvati had had her eyes open she would have seen her lover's brow furrowed in concentration and her eyes an intense smolder before they fluttered to a close and lips started kissing her neck. They traveled up to Parvati's ear before Hermione whispered hardly, "I want you, Parvati. I need you."

And, it was true. Hermione had never felt such intense feelings before. Not with Krum and never with Ron, Parvati elicited such a different response from Hermione. It was primal and animalistic- it made Hermione want to grind Parvati against a wall as she smashed her body against hers. At the same time, it was slow and sensuous. It made Hermione want to softly kiss and suckle every inch of her body, with maddening little sensations that made each of them throb for more attention and harder loving. Hermione had never felt so inspired in bed, had never felt so many conflicting desires and wants. It was dizzying trying to outweigh the pros and cons of each style and as she bid her time contemplating nibbling on her witch's ear, Parvati let out a wanton groan and that seemed to make the decision for her.

Hermione grabbed her lover around the waist and, with strength she didn't know she had, she flipped her lover so she was on the bottom. Hermione spread her legs over the Indian girl's waist pinning her down, and tore open the robe revealing her modest firm breasts and a moist area right between her legs. Parvati shrugged the robe off of her shoulder and Hermione lowered her lips to Parvati's breasts and engulfed the tip in her mouth feeling her hard and supple nipple with her tongue. Hermione groaned in Parvati's chest, wrapping her hands around her lover's upper back and arching Parvati's back to jut out her breasts to her mouth. Parvati let out a groan that was almost a scream, and Hermione stopped sucking enough to smile.

"Hermione," Parvati breathed, noticing a stop in her activity. "Take your clothes off. . . I want to feel your body."

The bookworm raised her lips to Parvati and engulfed her in an erotic kiss, before she pulled away and tore her shirt over her head and unbuttoned her pants before hastily tearing them off her legs. She was about to tear off her bra and underwear when Parvati grabbed her hands to stop them and said, "No, let me." She let her hands explore the bare back and stomach of her lover and arched her head to kiss her neck before she unhooked the bra and felt her lover's soft breasts. She teased the nipple in her hand before reached down to Hermione's arse and pulled off her underwear.

"I missed being this way with you," Parvati said as she fingered up Hermione's leg. "Just us." She teased the entrance of Hermione's fold before finding the clitoris and softly massaging it with her fingers. Hermione let out something like a whimper, to which Parvati gave a smirk. Not two seconds later, Hermione's hand traveled down to Parvati's folds and the smirk vanished as she let out an incoherent grunt.

Hermione entered two fingers slowly in her girlfriend and kissed her mouth hardly. She quickened the pace and Parvati's fingers abandoned her girlfriend's sex as she gripped the sheets, writhing in pleasure. She thrusted her body every time Hermione's fingers pumped inside of her sending waves of pleasure reverberating through her body. "Faster-" she breathed and Hermione obeyed, flexing her arms and increasing the speed and precision going fast enough to get Parvati where she wanted, but careful enough so she did not hurt her. The careful part proved to be difficult- Hermione always thought Parvati looked beautiful when she was making love and it was hard to stay focused with that beautiful face making wonderfully indecent expressions and screaming her name.

Hermione groaned and closed her eyes as she felt the culmination of Parvati's juices lubricating her hand. She opened them again and looked down at Parvati. Her stomach was clenching and writhing, she had one hand placed firmly on one of her breast massaging it roughly while the other one remained glued to the sheets, tugging mercilessly. And, her face- her magnificent dark eyes were closed, opening only a few seconds at a time to give her lover a smoldering look before they closed again. She tossed her head in wild abandonment before raising it again her mouth open and groaning as she did so. Hermione kept at it- although her arm was tiring, all she needed was to look at her lover to continue.

"Almost there!" Parvati breathed, but she needn't have said it. Hermione knew Parvati well now. She knew that when she stopped groaning- and her mouth gaped open like she couldn't breath- that she was about to cum. She knew that the wonderful expression on Parvati's face now- a look of shock, vulnerability, gratitude, pleasure, and satisfaction- meant that she had came. That Hermione should savor the looks, sounds, and sensations as she slowed her movements and jutted them in slowly and hardly a few more times feeling the walls of her girlfriend contract wonderfully around her fingers as her legs quaked with the orgasm. That she should appreciate how the loud spectacular groan that erupted after the seconds of silence made her wish she was wearing clothes again so she could rip them off and start all over, and how the consecutive smaller moans that followed put her on the edge of insanity.

Hermione's fingers entered her lover deeply one last time before they left, and Parvati's body slowly started relaxing, and her beautiful brown eyes opened casting Hermione an intense look. She let her head fall down on the pillow and relaxed, taking in deep breaths as Hermione admired the rise and fall of her breasts that made her want nothing more than to curl up beside her lover. So, she did.

"You're getting so good at that," Parvati said as Hermione rested her head against her girlfriend's shoulder.

"You sound surprised," Hermione said with a grin planting kisses behind Parvati's ear.

"I'm. . . always surprised. I keep forgetting that no one else is like you. That no one else can get me there like you do." Parvati turned to her side, stopping Hermione's assault of kisses. "And, now it's your turn."

"Oh and here I thought you forgot," Hermione said with a small smile.

"Not a chance. You had your thighs between my leg earlier. Although I was getting all the attention, I could tell how much you wanted some."

"Oh really?"

"It was very sexy," Parvati promised cupping her girlfriends cheek and pulling her into a long, luxurious kiss. "It made me want to do indecent things to you. . . but you wouldn't stop doing what you were doing to me and that left me pretty immobile."

"Yeah?" Hermione asked aware of Parvati's fingertips teasing her hard nipples.

"Yeah," she nodded and moved from the side of Hermione to on top of her, supporting herself with her hands on the bed on either side of Hermione's head hovering over her. "You're wonderful, Hermione Granger, you know that? So smart and so sexy. . ." she lowered her lips to her neck and softly kissed and bit her skin. Hermione shivered as their breasts slightly touched. "I almost don't know what to do with you," she whispered in the bookworm's ear. She lowered herself closer to Hermione's body and began kissing down her neck and to her breasts where she engulfed the tip with her mouth and softly sucked on it.

"Parvati," Hermione moaned. "Please. Don't stop."

Parvati smiled and moved breasts although her sucking became a little more ragged and passionate. Hermione couldn't stand it, she was grasping the sides of the bed, moaning. She was already unbelievingly wet, just by watching Parvati cum, that the foreplay her lover was doing to her was annoyingly pushing her over the edge. Parvati knew it too, she knew Hermione was dripping and waiting with want. She knew that the moment she licked her way down the belly and to her clit she was only seconds away from Hermione's leg shaking violently at her side evidence of an orgasm, so she teased her. She licked her way down her belly, below the bellybutton but traveled back up quickly before she got to low. Hermione let out an aggravated groan which did nothing but prompt Parvati to tease her more. She licked downwards again, side-stepping her groin to lick her thigh. Then she licked down the thigh towards the center. . .

"For Christ's sake!" Hermione cursed loudly. "Goddamnit Parvati, do it!"

Parvati didn't hesitate a second longer and plunged her tongue right into Hermione. She knew from personal experience that when Hermione cursed like a muggle she wasn't to be ignored.

Hermione took in a deep ragged breath savoring the feeling of Parvati's soft face in her thighs and her warm tongue in her folds. The best part of being with a girl, Hermione thought, was no stubble. She didn't have to be nagged by stubborn facial hair that scraped her thighs and irritated her clitoris when Parvati shook her head furiously in her sex. Parvati was smooth, but delicately rough at the same time. It was a maddening sensation that made Hermione try very hard to stop from cumming the moment she started.

"Parvati," she breathed, trying very hard to postpone her orgasm. "I want you- I want to taste-" she stopped taking in a noisy breath.

Parvati stopped at once, letting her warm breath grow cool on Hermione's sloppy mess of saliva and wetness. She deliberately stuck out her tongue and went slowly and maddeningly from the origin of her wetness to clitoris. "Whatever you want beautiful," she said before she plopped up and situated herself so that her face was still near Hermione's sex while her folds remained luringly inches from Hermione's mouth. Hermione groaned, touching her wet, dark folds with her nose. Hermione said something that sounded oddly like, "beautiful," before Parvati lowered her mouth to her girlfriend's clitoris and got busy. Parvati was going with speed while Hermione was going slowly, savoring the taste and the feel of Parvati with her tongue, and of course, moaning in her as well.

It did not take much more for Hermione not to be able to handle it. Her left hand gripped the sheets as her right gripped Parvati's tight bum. She arched her back and groaned desperately never wanting the feeling to end. Parvati chuckled as Hermione's legs shook with pleasure and she detanlged herself from the '69.' Hermione gave her an unbelieving look as Parvati flopped down next to her lover looking quite pleased with herself.

Hermione groaned as her lover pressed her lips to her ear and whispered. "As always, you cum way too fast."

"As always, you assume I'm a man and have to wait forever to reboot. I'm not done Miss Patil. Nowhere near it."

Parvati gave her a surprised but sexy look as Hermione hopped to her knees with rekindled fire in her eyes. She fingered Parvati's dark thighs. "Open," she commanded and Parvati obeyed waiting for what was to come. Hermione opened her legs and threw one Parvati's and motioned for her to sit up like she was. Again Parvati, obeyed and Hermione inched herself closer to be entangled with her lover until their cores touched and Parvati let out an obvious involuntary groan. Hermione pushed herself closer feeling Parvati's wetness mix with her own. Parvati obviously had a hard time coping with this as she was already breathing hard and steady, making noises Hermione had never heard her make before. It was evidence enough how much she was enjoying it, but too support it even further she was groping her own breast in a wanton fashion and her hand was clenching the mattress with more than obvious distress. For the second time that night, as she was becoming close as well, she got to see the lovely expression cross Parvati's face as she came. She watched as her body quaked and how she held on just long enough for Hermione to cum as well. When Parvati noticed Hermione had came, she fell back on the cool pillows and breathed in deep, ragged breaths well after Hermione was done regaining her composure.

"I'm guessing you have no snide comments about me cumming fast now?" Hermione asked with a smile hovering above her lover's tired body.

"Hermione," Parvati moaned hiding her face in her hands. "That was so good, how come we never did that before?"

"Because you have sex with me like I'm a guy. I cum once and you think I'm done. What you're forgetting," Hermione said crawling towards her lover and removing Parvati's hands from her face, "is that I'm woman, and the beauty of being with a woman is. . ." she let the wonder hang in the air as she kissed Parvati on the lips so gently it tickled, "I can, literally, go all night."

So they did.


	9. Chapter 9

**So, i've been really busy lately but I managed to get this down. Hope you enjoy it and let me know you what you think, I always appreciate.**

**As always I own nothing which is probably a good thing because J.K. Rowling is a bad ass in the best way possible.**

* * *

><p>"<em>You <em>were amazing."

"Please, I was nothing compared to you. Your tongue, Parvati, is quite talented-"

"Nothing compared to your hands, I promise you."

The two women were laying down exhausted on the four-poster bed, both unbelieving of what transpired. Hermione nuzzled herself in Parvati's hair pulling back a strand that was stuck quite stubbornly to her neck with sweat.

"I'm all sweaty," Parvati said giggling. "I vaguely remember taking a shower before all of this started. Now I need another one."

"Please, Parvati. You know I want to but there is no way I can do you in the shower right now. Maybe in the morning."

Parvati giggled again, and Hermione looked up and gave her a lazy-eyed smile. "That's not what I meant, but we should definitely utilize the shower sometime. It's always been a fantasy of mine," Parvati confessed.

"_You, _have always been a fantasy of _mine."_

"Really?" Parvati asked sarcastically. "Always?"

"Well, not you specifically until seventh year. . . but someone like you. Someone smart, funny, beautiful. . . clean."

"Clean?"

"Clean, yes. I couldn't do you if you were dirty. You know smelled bad, never took showers, things like that."

"Well, thank Merlin I'm hygienic," she said fondly smoothing Hermione's hair as Hermione's arm tightened it's grip around Parvati's torso pushing her closer to her.

"You know what else I like about you?"

"Hmm?" Parvati asked trailing her fingers down Hermione's bare back.

"You don't hurry to put your clothes on after. Every guy I've been with, not two minutes later they have their boxers on already. I never understood it- it's like they could only be naked when we were having sex," Hermione said annoyed. "Then it pressured me to put my clothes back on. It was annoying because I like letting it air out."

Parvati giggled. "Air out?"

"Yeah it's all, you know, wet down there. . ."

"Yes, I know sweety. I don't know. . . I guess I just like being around you like this. You know, wearing nothing it's like. . . nice because you're the only one that I get to be that way with. Besides I'm tired as hell there's no way I'm moving to get clothes now."

Hermione snorted. "The pinnacle of laziness- I'm going to stay naked because I'm too tired to put on clothes."

"The pinnacle of laziness- I'm going to put my clothes _back_ on because I'm to lazy to argue with the guy I just had sex with," Parvati retorted.

"Alright, alright," Hermione grinned. "Good point."

Parvati sighed contently and Hermione planted a quick chaste kiss on her neck.

"Hermione," Parvati said suddenly remembering. "I think I left my dress at the Burrow."

"What?"

"The white summer dress I wore to the rehearsal dinner."

"Oh, that one. . . you looked really pretty in it. Hopefully, the gnargles don't take it."

Parvati snorted.

Hermione grinned. "We'll get it in the morning. . . or the afternoon- I have no idea what time it is. Well, whenever we happen to wake up tomorrow- or I guess today."

Her lover chuckled and ran her hand through her fellow gryffindor's hair, undoing the knots and tangles on the way.

"You know what I like about you?" Parvati asked after a moment running her fingers through a particularly stubborn knot.

"Hmm?"

"You sing slow songs when I'm falling asleep. And, you always find the best ones. . . it's really sweet," Parvati admitted.

"Well, in that case," she lulled herself off the bed and fumbled with Wireless Wizarding Radio on the kitchen counter until she found the station she was looking for. She walked back to the bed and Parvati moved on her side as Hermione copied her position and pressed herself against Parvati's back. She kissed her back shoulder softly, before kissing towards her neck and finally her ear. "Now we just got to wait for the perfect song," she promised.

"You think it's gonna take long?"

"No, it plays a lot of random songs, but if you concentrate hard enough on a certain song you want the station plays it. That's how I always get the best song, I ask it to play it. It's kinda like wandless magic, but not quite."

"So that's your secret," Parvati said with a smile. "How come it's always songs I've never heard of before?"

"They're usually muggle songs. . . don't get me wrong I love the wizarding world, but the muggles totally trump us on music. It's definitely their form of magic."

They listened to the radio for a few more songs with Hermione remaining silent, until finally midway through a song Hermione pulled away a strand of hair resting on Parvati's ear and starting whispering softly and slowly with the lyrics, "Let's take a picture now, I do not want to forget the way you look at me when everything is perfect. A perfect memory of when things are so good and everything has worked out just the way we knew it would. . ."

Parvati shivered feeling safe, loved, and warm in her girlfriends arms. Hermione tightened her grasp around Parvati's torso and continued with a slight smile on her face. "I love the sun when it shines, I love the sky when it's blue, I love the color green 'cause it reminds me of you. . . "

She finished the song whispering along with the radio in the same low pitch as before planting a gentle kiss behind Parvati's ear whose body shivered with enjoyment.

"You know I'm really glad I'm with you, Hermione," Parvati said softly. She grabbed Hermione's hand from the arm drawn around her body and brought the palm up to her lips giving it a firm, meaningful kiss. Sometimes it was these moments- the moments that did not appear extraordinary or exciting- that were Parvati's favorite. Sometimes it was just being held, feeling someone's warm body pressed up against hers that made her feel like she was really living. She wondered if Hermione felt the same.

Hermione kissed the back of Parvati's neck. "I am too."

They stayed there for what seemed like a short time but probably spanned a good hour. Occasionally, Hermione would murmur along with the song, half-falling asleep as she did so. Finally, Hermione murmured, "I'm gonna fall asleep, 'Vati."

"I know," Parvati murmured back.

"What did you have to say to me? You said at the wedding-" her voice broke in a strangled yawn and she pushed herself closer and comfortably into the crook of Parvati's neck and back- "that you had- had tuh tell me sumthin'.'"

"Oh. . . well, I-" Parvati hesitated, suddenly feeling wide awake and kinda panicky. She really hadn't planned to tell her like this. In her head it was always a bit more suave and Hermione was not falling asleep as she said it. "Well it's just that, I, I've never met anyone like you Hermione," she started and hesitated trying to find a way not to sound cliche, but found that exceedingly hard and hedged slowly. "The first time I kissed you I knew you were something different. I knew that I could kiss you forever and never get tired of it. . . you're smart, and beautiful, and what I'm trying to say is- I- I."

Parvati waited a moment in anticipation wondering if she should continue, her back was after all turned to Hermione and couldn't gauge her reaction. After what seemed like a rather long minute, without a questioning intervention about why she had stopped, she slowly turned over to face her lover to see her eyes closed and her mouth slightly open in a lazy way. There would no doubt be a pool of drool on the pillow in the morning as she heard her lover faintly snore. She sighed feeling relieved that she had fallen asleep during her little rant, but slightly disappointed that she had as well. She smiled in spite of herself, growing comfortable in the covers as she looked at Hermione's sleeping figure. She hovered above her face for a moment before she gave her a faint kiss on the cheek. She carefully placed a protective arm over her body and whispered quietly and honestly to the angel in her arms, "I love you."

x x x

Charlie was in the kitchen grabbing a late morning breakfast when he heard the rapping of a beak against glass. A large barn owl waited outside with a large rolled up magazine in it's mouth.

"Oy! George!" Charlie called to the other room, as he opened the window to let the owl in and stuck a couple knuts in it's pouch, "The magazine is here! Better late than never I guess," he muttered to himself, wondering why his mum still subscribed to a magazine that sent it's mail a day late or not at all.

He let the bird out and closed the window before he untied the string and unrolled the magazine.

He normally would have just tossed it on the table without looking, but the cover was too much to not catch his eye. By the time George entered the room, Charlie's mouth was hanging wide open- a look of complete shock on his face.

"Hey everybody, my magazine ad is here!" George announced loudly with importance to the rest of the house as he came into the kitchen. "Hey, what's up with you Charlie? The ad that mind-blowing, yeah?"

Charlie looked strangely at George. "Sorry, I- it's not your magazine actually it's mine," he stuttered and shoved the magazine behind his back.

"Ay, what's with that now?" George said making a grab for the magazine, but Charlie was too quick.

"I told you it's mine. I guess I notified them that I'd be staying at this address for awhile- forgot I did that," Charlie invented wildly.

"Everyone knows you are too lazy to do that," George said confidently. "What did they do? Did they butcher the ad or something?"

While Charlie was trying to think of something to say George caught him off guard and grabbed it from his back.

"They better not have done a half page again, I specifically paid for a full page," George muttered annoyed but stopped when he unrolled the magazine and saw the cover.

As if on cue, they heard Ron coming down the stairs, just as George's face registered the appropriate amount of shock. Charlie thumped him on the shoulder.

"I'd hide it," he hissed. "Ron's coming!"

It took second for George to comprehend what that meant before he rolled it up and thrust it behind his back as Ron entered the room.

"Hello," Charlie and George said simultaneously as Ron entered the room.

Ron looked suspiciously between the two of them. "I thought the magazine came George. How's the ad?"

"Oh it wasn't the magazine," George said smoothly. "It was just Charlie's porn."

Charlie tried to look his best to make his expression sound agreeable to that, but had a hard time doing it.

Ron scrutinized them further. "You'd get that sent to your Romanian address. You wouldn't dare risk mum seeing it again."

"I'm a grown man! She has no business looking through my mail-"

"Don't be such a prat, Ron," George said interrupting Charlie. "It's been awhile for him- he really needed it."

Charlie scowled and was about to open his mouth to protest when Ron had taken out his wand and muttered, "Accio magazine."

The magazine squeezed itself out of George's surprised grip and evaded Charlie's lunge before it landed in Ron's hands. George and Charlie froze before giving each other appraising looks and then reluctantly looked back at their brother.

Ron's face was expressionless at first, as if he could not thoroughly process what he was seeing and all it implied. Then it quickly turned a dark shade of red. It was on the verge of turning purple when Mrs. Weasley walked in the room.

"So boys did it finally come?"

Ron did nothing as Mrs. Weasley came up behind him and glanced at the magazine from over her tall son's arm. "Oh my!" she exclaimed as the vases she had suspended with magic in the next room where she was dusting fell with a crash. She weakly gripped the edge of the magazine from Ron, and he immediately left the room letting the door slam loudly behind him as he left. Charlie and George exchanged a sympathetic look as Mrs. Weasley dropped the week's issue of Witch Weekly on the kitchen table which displayed two young witch's in an enthusiastic lip-lock with the headline, "_Scandal at Potter Wedding: Best Man Loses Out to Last Minute Bridesmaid!"_

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><p><strong>The song mentioned is called "Perfect" by Doria Roberts and I don't own that either, but I wish i did.<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks for everyone who reviewed :) As always I appreciate it and hope to see more. Let me know if there are any grammar mistakes that are annoyingly noticeable as you read. Enjoy :D**

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and it's characters are not and never ever will be mine**

**Also there is a line or two that may be seen as stereotypical (and/or even insulting) but neither me nor the character I am writing for means it to be insulting, it was meant to poke fun AT the stereotype itself in a sarcastic way. I think we all know stereotypes sometimes fit, but definitely DON'T fit sometimes as well. Basically, our world is filled with stereotypes and I don't think we can just ignore them and pretend they wouldn't come up in everyday conversation because that would just be unrealistic. Alright I think that covers it, I was just re-reading and realized it may be sensitive to some people. Just wanted to put my two cents out there in case someone took it out of context and got offended over something not meant to be offensive at all.**

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><p>There was the familiar feeling of adrenaline Hermione felt as she tore through the forest. She had no clue what had happened to Harry and Ron and could only hope that they had somehow evaded the snatchers. She stole herself behind a large tree and tried to keep her breathing slow and steady, but her heart was beating so quickly and loudly it made her nervous and on edge. She gripped her wand firmly, her ears perked to the slightest sound. . . the smallest noise.<p>

She heard the cracking of leaves, the slow careful footsteps of her pursuer and she knew the snatcher would eventually walk past her hiding spot and see her. Carefully, she turned on the spot and before her mind could tell her any different she hopped out from behind and the tree and yelled "_Reducto!_"

The snatcher tried to dodged at once upon hearing Hermione, but needn't have bothered at all. The spell had not worked because the wand was broken in half- hanging loosely by a splinter swinging back and forth as if mocking Hermione. She gave it an unbelieving stare and realized to her horror that it was not her wand, rather it was Harry's. A wave of panic and guilt flooded her- _how on earth could she have broken Harry's wand at Godric's Hollow?_

It was obvious now that she was going to pay for this mistake in full. She saw the snatcher realizing Hermione's only defense was shattered as he sauntered closer to her. She turned and tried to run but caught her foot in a tree root and tripped instead. Before she could get up the snatcher reached her and grabbed her by the arms and turned her over.

To her horror, the snatcher had never been a snatcher at all, for as it removed it's hood the gaunt, looming face of Bellatrix Lestrange was found with a perfectly wicked smile plastered over her face.

"Picking up where we left off shall we?"

And, before Hermione could do anything her wrist was burning in pain and fresh blood was spilling from the old scar _mudblood._

Except, it didn't stop there. The word was being seared new places: across her stomach, her foot, her neck, her cheek, in her scalp, down her fingers, under her nails, across her eyelids, on her lips. She was crying freely, her tears mixing with blood flowing down her body through her clothes and down to the forest floor. Barely able to see she glanced around the forest for any sign of hope and saw the faint patronus of a doe standing twenty feet away behind a tree watching. She wanted to call out to Snape, to beg him to help her, but he wouldn't have come if she had. His place was to wait it out, to give Harry information at the last possible moment and to play the bad guy until the very end. And Hermione's place, she knew as the thousands of cuts ran her body dry and raw, was to suffer and die here.

Bellatrix's wicked laugh rang through the forest and Hermione gave a strangled cry and woke with a start.

Immediately, her hands went to her face to as if she were half expecting the scar's to be running down her cheeks, but she only found frantic tears that had no doubt been shed during her sleep. She took a deep breath and wiped the sopping tears from her face with shaking hands.

She shivered and hugged herself with her arms as if trying to comfort herself when she heard the quiet shifting of sheets. She looked beside her to see the sleeping figure of Parvati only half covered in sheets no doubt because Hermione had probably thrown them off them in her sleep. She sighed and massaged her temples with her fingertips feeling suddenly drained. She glanced at Parvati, who looked undeniably beautiful in the morning light, before she got up from the bed and rummaged around for some clothes. She hastily pulled on some jeans and sweater, and made her way to the entrance to the tent but stopped at the entrance, turned back and went to grab her wand which lay on the bedside table. It was all gloriously in one piece and gloriously all hers.

She shook her head and left the tent.

It was a beautiful day, there was no doubt about that. She took a seat on a rock with her back to the tent, as if she were on guard duty and was waiting for some disturbance to pass by her charmed and protected camp. She pulled up her sleeve and stared at her scar. Of course she had tried to get it removed, but like some forms of dark magic the damage was done and unfixable. She would die with the _mudblood _etched across her skin just as Bellatrix Lestrange intended.

She shivered although not at all cold. Of course the dream was absurd, even while she was dreaming she knew what was happening was not real, but the adrenaline- the fear- felt so true. And, of course it was all connected to the forest. She had just broken Harry's wand when they had first come to the Forest of Dean, Harry had seen Snape's patronus in this forest, they had been chased and captured by snatchers which had led to her being tortured by Bellatrix-

"Hermione?"

Hermione reeled around, wand in hand and poised, before realizing it was Parvati who was rubbing her eyes in the bright morning light. She looked alarmed at the sight of the ready wand and held up her hands to her sides as a reaction. "Hermione, what're you crazy?"

"I, um. . ." Hermione held it loosely in the air feeling ridiculous now. She didn't know which emotion she preferred more- the dark brooding from moments before, or the embarrassment now. She lowered the wand and shoved it in her pocket her face flushing red.

"Are you okay?" Parvati asked slowly walking up to her. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing just a bit jumpy this morning. . ." Hermione tried to shrug it off, but her eyes couldn't quite meet her and they fell on her own scarred wrist instead which she hastily tried to cover her her sleeve with, but Parvati was too quick for her. She grabbed the scarred wrist stopping her, and Hermione flinched at the contact.

Parvati's eyes wrinkled in concern. "Hermione. . ."

Hermione didn't say anything for a long minute, but then unwillingly met Parvati's eyes. "I just had a bad dream," she said trying to shrug it off, but Parvati wasn't having it that easy.

"About this?" she asked pulling up what she had partially managed to cover with the sleeve and exposing the full scar.

Hermione nodded looking away, but felt Parvati's cool fingers travel over and under the letters and it didn't make her flinch like she thought it would.

"Did it hurt?" she asked quietly, the tips of her cold fingers running over it soothingly.

"She did it slow. . . she wanted it to hurt," Hermione started, not know why she was telling Parvati this as she usually liked to keep these things to herself. She didn't quite know what was compelling her to continue- whether it was because she actually wanted to talk about it or rather she didn't feel like putting forth the effort to evade it again. "She didn't want to kill me, she wanted to torture me. It- it hit nerves. The spell she used cut deep but didn't allow me to bleed out too much or else I may have died. . . like I said she didn't want to kill me. . ."

"It's a cursed scar?"

Hermione nodded. "I tried to get rid of it but, well, dark magic likes being remembered."

Parvati frowned, as she rubbed her thumb lightly over it, feeling the bumps and the ridges over her skin. "Who did it?" she asked softly.

"Bellatrix Lestrange," she answered slowly. "She had a flare for torturing," she tried to say casually but it fell short and ended awkwardly.

"Mrs. Weasley killed her," Parvati answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Yeah, yeah she did."

"You sound surprised," Parvati said giving her a small smile. "I was there too. . . you saved my best friend, remember?"

Hermione nodded and Parvati continued. "Lavender's lucky she just walked away with scars, but she hates them anyway, you know. She goes to great lengths to cover them up with make-up and when she goes out she wears her hair down so they cover the one's on her neck. She shouldn't though, I love them. I think it shows how brave she is."

Hermione didn't know what else to do, but nod again. Parvati grabbed her hand and stood closer to Hermione standing directly in front of her inches away. She brought her hand up to her lips and Hermione thought she was going to kiss her palm but traveled down instead and planted a firm kiss on her scarred wrist. When her lips left Hermione's skin, the scar grew cool with a breeze. "I love your scar, Hermione," Parvati said softly. "I think it's beautiful."

Hermione knew she was supposed to be thankful that Parvati was being sweet, but all it did was aggravate her. "Mudblood, Parvati? How is having _mudblood_ scrawled on my wrist beautiful?" she asked her voice rising.

"Because," Parvati said calmly. "It shows how strong you are."

Hermione shook her head looking miserable. "No, Parvati. It's not like that, you don't get it. I-I'm not strong because she's still winning. I dream that she's back and she's standing over me and writing that foul, degrading word all over my body. I know she's dead," Hermione said her eyes watering. "But she's still there. And, it hurts _so_ bad. I-I can feel it. It's like it's happening."

"Where does it hurt?"

"Everywhere. My forehead, my cheeks, my neck, my lips. . ."

Slowly, but cautiously as if she were afraid Hermione would shoo her away, she brought her lips up to her lover's forehead and where she lightly kissed her, then trailed down her face to her cheek her nose sliding against her skin and pressed her lips there, before trailing down to her neck and finally to her girlfriend's lips where she pressed them firmly against hers.

"Bellatrix is gone," Parvati murmured after the kiss ended. "She's never going to hurt you again."

Hermione nodded. "I know," she sighed, sounding defeated.

Parvati frowned. "That doesn't sound like my Hermione at all. Really, what else is wrong?"

"You know when we were in third year and we had to do the obstacle course for Lupin at the end of the year?" Hermione hedged.

Parvati looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding.

"Do you know what my boggart was?"

Parvati shook her head, and Hermione tried to smile as if it were a joke. "My boggart was McGonagall telling me I had failed all of my exams."

Parvati couldn't help but crack a smile. "Well, that seems utterly terrifying."

Hermione smiled too. "It seems so silly, but I miss those days. My boggart wouldn't be anything close to that npw. . ."

"I don't think any of ours would be what it was when we were thirteen."

"What was yours?" Hermione asked not remembering.

"A mummy," Parvati smiled ruefully. "There's a story behind it," Parvati explained as Hermione raised an eyebrow. "When I was nine we went to visit the Egyptian tombs, and well you know, Egyptian wizards put all sorts of curses and precautions on their tombs. I mean it's a tourist trap so all the tombs are safe- there is some sort of magical barrier encasing them, but when you're nine years old and some kind of mummified inferi jumps out at you and the only thing blocking it from you is the promise of an invisible magical barrier some shady wizard ensured you about as he took you're money out front. Well, it was very terrifying. . . I screamed bloody murder and high-tailed it out of there. My mum was furious- she didn't want me to go in to begin with but I was really eager and my Uncle convinced her it would be okay," Parvati laughed at the memory. "I couldn't sleep for weeks. Made me wish I had stayed outside with Mum like Padma did."

Hermione smiled imagining a nine-year-old Parvati losing her head and running for her life from what seemed like an especially terrifying experience.

"Probably wouldn't be the same now," Parvati said thoughtfully. "Things change."

"What would yours be now?" Hermione asked curious, trying to keep away the thought of what her own Bellatrix-boggart would be like.

"Well," Parvati hesitated. "There was this death eater at the battle, and he umm, he tortured me a bit. We were in a deserted corridor and I think he wanted to play with me a bit be-before he killed me. So, he did the cruciatus curse on me, but it wasn't too long someone on our side came and saw what was happening. It was that one woman- the one they said was Lupin's wife. She saved me- I don't know if she killed the death eater or only stunned him- one minute my body is on fire the next minute it stopped and he was on the ground."

"Tonks saved you?" Hermione asked surprised. "Wait- who was the death eater? How come you never told me this?"

"I don't know who the death eater was, I never took off the mask. I guess it was Tonks who saved me- I never really met her. She just made sure I was okay then took off again. So _Tonks_," Parvati said the name considering it. "That's an odd name."

"Yeah, well her real name was Nymphadora, but she preferred Tonks."

Parvati nodded. "I think Tonks suited her better."

"Well, she would have been happy to hear it," Hermione muttered thinking to herself. "So your boggart would be that death eater?"

"Well I haven't come across any boggarts recently, but I'm pretty sure it would be him. It-it's not something you forget overnight is it?"

"How come you never told me before?" Hermione asked.

Parvati shrugged trying to play it off indifferently, but her body language told her that she didn't quite like what she was about to say. "You don't like talking about that stuff. . . with the exception of our first night together, Hermione, and when I thanked you for saving Lavender we've only vaguely mentioned things like that if at all. And, even then it was kinda vague. . . we never really went into specifics. I mean I never knew about Bellatrix."

Hermione opened her mouth, but then closed it not really knowing what to say.

"All I know," Parvati continued. "Is what everyone else knows. The rumors that went around, and the fragments of story that the paper put out, and what I saw that day. It's enough to figure that you, Harry, and Ron were heroes-"

"I'm not a hero," Hermione cut in lamely. "Harry did it. He was-"

"Like Harry and Ron wouldn't have gotten themselves killed without you," Parvati said pointedly. "Look, like I said, all I know are the rumors which is why I've been trying to get you to open to me. Hermione, what I have with you, I really like it and I really want to keep it. Today was the first time you opened up to me and, quite frankly, I think it's gonna help us more than hurt us."

Hermione nodded slowly. "Alright," she agreed.

"Good," Parvati said decisively, then she looked awkwardly away not knowing how to take the little victory.

Although it was a beautiful day out, there was a slight chill in the air that made Parvati shiver. Hermione noticed it and squeezed her hand. "C'mon," she said. "Let's go inside and shower, and maybe drop by the burrow after to grab that dress of yours."

Parvati instantly smiled and squeezed her hand back as her girlfriend led her into the tent. "When you say shower, you mean together, right?" she asked a little too eagerly.

"Please, Parvati, if you think I'm going to let you take another shower alone then you are sorely mistaken."

Parvati practically glowed from the affection and Hermione thought for the umpteenth time that week that she looked beautiful.

x x x

"So you didn't have a clue did you?" Charlie asked conversationally nodding toward the magazine on the table.

George laughed. "No idea mate. I wouldn't waste my time pursuing a lesbian, even though if there was a man to turn them straight it would be me." He took a sip of his tea and took a seat at the kitchen table, and lazily pulled the magazine towards him.

Mrs. Weasley had left, Ron was who-knows-where outside probably blowing up who-knows-what, and Mr. Weasley had been at work all morning. Charlie grabbed some toast and took a seat across from George at the table.

"Stop looking at that magazine," Charlie said. "You look weird when you look at it."

"I mean Parvati really is attractive," George said to no one in particular. "It's just really too bad she's snogging Hermione- not that Hermione trolls on looks, but I mean, I've known her forever she's like an annoying young sister version of Percy. . . especially when she became prefect," George added with an eye roll.

"Well, maybe you can pretend you haven't known her forever- you probably won't be seeing her as much with Ron being Ron," Charlie said pointedly. "How do you think he's going to react when he finally sees her?"

George opened the magazine thoughtfully debating whether to read the article on Hermione and Parvati or to actually search for his ad. "Ron has the delicacy of a mountain giant in a China shop when it comes to his feelings. He's gonna blow his lid."

"I hope I'm not around when it happens," Charlie said sounding miserable.

"Hey how long are you staying here?" George asked flipping through the pages looking for his ad. "Don't tell me this weekend here has made you grown reminiscent and now you want to leave Romania."

Charlie laughed. "Not quite I'm just here till the end of the week, but I'll probably be in town more often."

"Why?" George inquired casually flipping another page. "Curious how Ron blows over?"

"No, I uh, I spent some time with that photographer from the wedding the other night."

"Oh, Charlie I really didn't think he was your type, but good for you. I've always wanted a gay brother to tell me if my sweater matched my penny loafers."

"I was the talking about the witch you git, the one that did the wedding not the wizard who did the rehearsal."

"See you've got to be more specific, mate I've always thought you could swing either way."

"Ha ha," Charlie pronounced sarcastically. "I'm not the one trying to pretend that they're not looking for the article to see more pictures of the girl he wanted to shag."

"Not my fault she was a lesbian disguised as a straight girl-"

"Wasn't she dancing with Hermione at the wedding?"

"Yes, but she danced with me too-"

"Soooo, she's bi," Charlie consented with a grin. "And you just lost out to Hermione 'I-use-to-knit-hats-for-house-elves' Granger."

"She's not bi," George said shaking his head.

"I bet she is and she just prefers Hermione over you-" Charlie said insulting him like only a brother could. "I bet you ten galleons she is."

"I never took you for a fool but I'll gladly take money that walks so freely towards me," George said holding out a hand which Charlie shook vigorously.

When they were done shaking, Charlie looked from his hand to George's with a curious look on his face. "Mate, you got girl hands," Charlie said after a long moment.

"And you've got troll hands," George retorted immediately. "I think I got a callous from shaking them."

"Women like a man that does work with their hands. The talent easily translates to bed-"

"No, you're more likely to peel back their skin with those all those callouses. It's like the bad end of-"

But Charlie never heard what is hands were like because he was interrupted by a knocking on the door. "Better not be, Ron, that git should have a key," Charlie muttered getting up to get the door.

x x x

"Really, Parvati," Hermione started feigning irritation. "I still don't think I can see properly." They had just apparated outside the burrow and started walking the remaining short distance that separated them from the door.

Parvati rolled her eyes. "I didn't know you would take this so sorely, you had a great time- I could tell by the sounds you were making- you really shouldn't be complaining."

"I was having a great time until the actual showering happened," Hermione retorted blinking and rubbing her eyes.

Parvati sighed. "It was just a bit of shampoo," she said as she knocked on the door.

"Actually, it was a handful. Merlin I think I'll go blind," Hermione continued teasing wondering how far Parvati would let her take this.

Parvati rolled her eyes again with affection. "Alright, Hermione what are you after? What do you want me to promise I'll do for you?"

Hermione pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Well. . . I can think of a few things. . ." she said slowly snaking an arm around her girlfriend's waist.

They were interrupted, however, by the door being opened by Charlie Weasley and Hermione casually kept her arm around Parvati much to Parvati's pleasure.

"Hi Charlie," Hermione said with a smile.

Charlie gapped at her looking surprised. He hadn't bargained on her coming this quickly. "Ron's not here, he went out," Charlie said automatically.

Hermione's smile faultered a bit. "I'm not here to see Ron. Parvati left her dress here by accident. We came to get it."

"Oh well in that case," Charlie opened the door wider so the two of them could enter. "Look though," Charlie said glancing nervously around them as if he half-expected Ron to appear out of thin air. "Ron's in a right mad state now. I would leave before he comes back," he said leading them to the kitchen.

"Why?" Hermione asked curiously as they walked in the small kitchen.

"Because of you, of course!" George said as a way of greeting. "I must admit I never saw it coming, but now that I think back on it I guess there were some signs. Hey Parvati," he added greeting her.

Hermione looked positively confused. "I don't understand."

Charlie gave her a surprised look. "It's obvious that he still likes you, and it's quite a nasty way to learn the news."

"What _news?_" Hermione asked impatiently.

"Hey, what's that?" Parvati asked glancing over George's shoulder at the open magazine.

George gapped at her. "You haven't seen it?" he asked sounding surprised.

"No," she said making a grab at the magazine. She _thought_ she had seen. . . but now way it couldn't be. . .

George snatched it out of her reach and rolled it up. "It's nothing," he said hastily exchanging a glance with Charlie across the room.

"Yeah, it's just George's porn," Charlie said flatly. "You have to understand it's been awhile for him."

George shot him a nasty look.

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Hermione demanded impatiently.

George opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the back door creaking open and Ron coming in with his eyes downcast. He glanced up and looked surprised to see a full kitchen. His eyes narrowed from Hermione to Parvati before his face turned an unhealthy prune color.

"Come to rub it in, have you?" he asked Parvati nastily.


	11. Chapter 11

**So this chapter is a bit shorter, but I wanted to end the chapter the way I did. Enjoy and please review, thanks to everyone who has reviewed, or favorited the story, or is getting the story updates. I really appreciate it. . . no really, I DO appreciate it :) Also if there's any mistakes if you could point them out I would love to correct them.**

**And obviously I've said it enough- I own nada**

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><p>Parvati gave Ron a puzzled look and Hermione looked perplexed.<p>

"Come to rub what in, Ron?" Hermione asked before Parvati could do or say anything.

"I'm not a bloody moron Hermione. The whole world knows, how would you think I wouldn't see it?" Ron said turning on Hermione.

"Knows wha-"

"Let me see that magazine," Parvati said forcefully looking at George.

George sighed and handed her over the magazine looking slightly guilty as he did so.

Parvati snatched it from him and unfolded it, Hermione gazing over her shoulder as she did, and then they both saw it. On the front cover was the two of them kissing passionately outside the wedding the tent. The photographer had obviously used some kind of unseeable flash because it showed the two of them clearly despite the dark sky and they would have noticed a bright light interrupting their rather private moment. Despite the picture the headline, Parvati noticed as she read "_Scandal at Potter Wedding: Best Man Loses Out to Last Minute Bridesmaid"_, was enough to make any guy angry especially when it was evidently true. As her photo self was snaking an arm around photo Hermione and pulling her closer, Parvati stole a look at the real Hermione to gauge her reaction. Her face was oddly blank at first, but then turned a scarlet color.

This, Parvati knew, was never the way Hermione had planned on coming out to her friends. "How did they get in?" Hermione asked quietly more to herself than anyone echoing the question that was in Parvati's head as well.

"Well," Charlie said slowly not really wanting to speak, but feeling almost obligated to. "There were security problems all day. None of them made it into the tent except that one, but some of them were able to get close. . ."

"It's not about security," Ron said loudly pointing an accusatory finger at Parvati. "It's about her taking advantage of Hermione."

Parvati, who was consciously wondering (or rather frantically worrying) how long the photographer had been watching and if he had taken any more compromising photos of them once they had moved into the forest, took a minute to register what was being accused of her. "Me taking advantage of Hermione?" Parvati asked incensed, once she got back to her senses. "I would never take advantage of her-"

"You're just like Lavender," Ron sneered. "You only date someone who's popular, you're just trying to piggy-back on Hermione's fame!"

"You dated Lavender you pathetic prat!" Parvati practically screamed rolling up the magazine and crinkling it in a fury. It was one thing to insult her and another to insult her best friend. "And you were no one! The only reason she did was to get an easy lay to make Seamus jealous! Which, if I remember correctly, you couldn't even do _that _good-"

"Because I was tired of being used!" Ron retorted in rage although his face, if possible, turned even a deeper shade.

"Because you were a scared virgin!" Parvati shot back at him aiming quite below the belt on that one.

"Maybe I don't go around sleeping with everyone I see. You, Parvati don't seem to have a problem with that!"

"That- that doesn't even make any sense!" Parvati yelled flustered counting the few number of people she had slept with in her head. "You're just mad because Hermione chose me over you!"

The two of them were getting closer now, staring daggers at each other, their noses only inches apart. Hermione stood off to the side still neglecting to say anything. Apparently lost in her own head.

"You're using her!" Ron roared. "When have you ever liked her before the war was over and we all became famous? Huh? I distinctly remember you and Lavender never giving her the bloody time of day before and you were roommates. Then all of a sudden, they're asking Hermione to do book interviews and radio broadcasts and suddenly you've become her best friend-"

"I don't think you're one to talk," Parvati interrupted knowing full well what Ron was saying was cow dung, but also that it was painting her in a horrible light as it could appear that way from an outsider's point of view. "You've treated her like crap for a friend- our first year I find her crying in the bathroom over some crackpot thing you said, our third year you ignored her and made her feel miserable for a cat killing a rat. You cared more for a rat-(a rat Ron!)-than Hermione!"

"The rat didn't die from her cat," Ron sneered. "The rat wasn't even a rat, she never told you?"

Parvati looked taken aback. For the first time in the argument she was knocked dumbstruck and the magazine slipped from her fingers in a kind of unregistered shock of hearing something so completely random, but knowing that it must be something undeniably important. Charlie and George exchanged uneasy looks both feeling miserable for Parvati right now. From there point of view, the argument of who was using who was changing rapidly, as Ron noticed as well.

"Ho, ho!" he laughed. "Well that's interesting. Maybe, Hermione isn't being as manipulated as I thought. Maybe, someone else is. . ."

Parvati glared at him. She was so mad that her eyes were watering, but she was determined not to blink and let her tears roll over her cheeks to give Ron the satisfaction of seeing her cry. Hermione, however, finally seemed to notice things were getting out of hand and finally found her voice again as Ron was about to open his mouth.

"That's enough, Ron," Hermione said in an uncertain voice not looking at him.

Ron's mouth hung open as if not knowing what to say, but then said in a softer voice. "You know I'm right Hermione. You shouldn't be with her-"

"You'll just be mad at whoever Hermione's with as long as it's not you!" Parvati spat, but not as loudly as she had been before. "You were mad at Krum for having her and now you're mad at me." Parvati blinked and her eyes finally spilt over with tears.

"I know her better than you," Ron said brushing it off although his face never turned back to it's normal shade. "Even you said it. Besides there's no secrets between us-"

"Obviously, there was," Parvati said pointedly glaring at him. "She never told you about me!"

"I was talking important life events, Patil, not some phase she's going through." He said it in such a curt, finalized way so very un-ron-like (as he usually had a habit of losing his head in an argument rather than keeping his cool and unnerving his adversary) that Parvati was left seething as he turned towards Hermione and addressed her. "C'mon Hermione. You've always been the logical one. How many times have you complained about her and Lavender? You know it's not going to last."

Hermione would not look anyone in the eye, as tears started falling down her cheeks and on her shoes. "Ron, I- I can't okay?" she finally looked up at him with tear-stained eyes.

Ron shook his head frustrated. "You're making a mistake, Hermione. You know, she doesn't care for you. You know she wouldn't understand you," he said keeping no attempt to keep his voice civil.

"Ron!" Hermione said flustered and angry. "Just stop!"

Ron looked almost surprised, but much more angry. "I'm not always going to be sitting back waiting for you, Hermione. I'm through!" He shot Parvati a dirty look before turning around and leaving the kitchen through the back door letting it slam generously on the way out.

There was a moment of silence where the four of them stood awkwardly in the kitchen. Charlie stood itching to leave as George sat there equally as eager to, but both were unwilling to make the sounds necessary to leaving that would disrupt the silence. Both felt rather immobilized.

Parvati was the first to break it. She took a step towards Hermione with outreached arms to hug her, but Hermione evaded her.

"Parvati," she said shaking her head. "I can't."

Parvati felt her arms fall limply to her sides, her heart feeling heavy and panicky.

"What?" she asked weakly.

"I think it's best if you go," Hermione said quietly not looking at her. Hermione did not quite know why she was saying this. In the moment all she wanted was to be left alone. She wanted Ron to have never found out, for that picture to have never been taken, and for Parvati to not be comforting and supportive.

Parvati felt as if her heart stopped. Surely, this wasn't how it was ending. She thought they were making progress, that they had the potential to be an actual couple that would be together for years openly and happy, that might one day contemplate spending the rest of their lives together. Surely, the past weekend had meant something to Hermione.

"Hermione," Parvati said almost desperately grabbing her arm. "Please. I- I" she stuttered clearly desperate now. There was almost a frantic look in her eye as she finally blurted out in a very indelicate way that she never imagined telling her, "I love you!" Hermione's eyes almost flickered to Parvati's but stopped halfway. "Please, Hermione," Parvati pleaded, grabbing her hands in her's and wishing that Hermione would look at her. Parvati pulled Hermione's hands close to her chest where she knew she would feel the quick beat of her lover's heart which Hermione tried desperately to ignore. "I know you f-feel something back," Parvati said not sounding convincing at all. "Don't do this."

There was a moment of silence where Hermione may have very well be contemplating what to do. But, really, she was just in a stunned silence. She had always been quick to think of ideas or solve problems. Hadn't her instance of leading Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest in her fifth year after only have a few minutes to formulate a plan been a stroke of genius? But, being fifteen seemed like a long time ago and a lot had changed. She was tired of being the brilliant brainy one that thought of everything ahead of time and always had a clever spell to get everyone out of sticky situation. For once all she wanted was to go to sleep and let the waves of this bizarre disaster wash over and resolve themselves, and she was banking on the quickest way to get that solitude was to not think or care about her friends, family, or Parvati. She had the completely irrational assumption that if she could only be alone things would magically get better, and she certainly wanted to believe it. So, always-rational Hermione did the stupidest thing she could have done pulled her hands away from her girlfriend and shook her head.

Parvati stood there stunned for minute and her tears seemed to stop automatically as her face turned bright red.

"Fine!" she shouted furiously at the woman she had just told she loved. Her lips and nose were red from previous crying and her dark eyes flashed dangerously. "FINE! You think I need you Hermione?" She yelled credulously. I don't! I'm leaving and I don't play games," she reminded her. "I told you if asked me to leave I would, I'm not going to come crawling back and neither should you!"

If Hermione had looked up she would have seen Parvati's face contorted in rage, and her hands balled up in the little fists like an angry child. But, she did not look up until Parvati was storming out of the room to the front door where she would no doubt apparate away a second later. As Hermione watched Parvati's retreating figure, she knew she would not stop her and knew she would probably regret it.

And, as Parvati left the house and let the door slam loudly behind her she knew she was making a mistake. As she took her wand out of her pocket and hoped Hermione would come running out and say something to make everything better, she knew she wouldn't. And, as she finally apparated away leaving behind the very person that had made her last four months undeniably the happiest of her life, she knew she would regret this decision.

x x x

Hermione stood in the kitchen of the burrow for a minute lost in thought before she looked up at Charlie and said. "I'm going to floo home, do you mind? I just don't really feel up to apparating right now," she said quietly.

Charlie nodded and said, "Help yourself there's some powder next to the fireplace in the living room."

Hermione left the room without a second glance and a few seconds later they heard the fires of the floo powder erupt and die down taking Hermione with them. Charlie rubbed the back of his neck feeling rather awkward as he looked down and noticed the magazine that Parvati had dropped on the floor during her argument with Ron. He bent down and picked it up frowning, it was rolled up in such a furry by Parvati that it was a mess.

George sighed noticing Charlie's expression and said in a voice similar to how one would sympathize to co-worker after a particularly bad day at work, "I know, it's gonna be more awkward than riding a broomstick with a backside of festering boils than to ask Parvati if she's bi now."

Charlie gave his brother a scrutinizing expression before he further folded the magazine in his hands and hit his younger brother on the side of the head with it.


	12. Chapter 12

**I sincerely apologize for the late update. I'm usually a bit quicker with updates, but I've been having terrible writer's block lately and it's unbelievably frustrating. If some of it seems choppy I'm sorry, but I'm getting over it now. **

**As always thanks to everyone who has favorited or reviewed and keep it coming :) If there are any mistakes just point them out and I'd be happy to fix them. Hope you enjoy-**

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><p>It took awhile for it to sink in, the fact that Parvati wasn't hers anymore. It took about a week for her to stop expecting Parvati to apparate outside her apartment door, or to come to her department at the Ministry looking for her. It took about a week to remember that Parvati had told her with a face full of conviction that if she was ever asked to leave she would go. It took about week for Hermione to realize that she had loved Parvati and had lost her.<p>

The simple solution was to seek Parvati out and apologize profusely, as it was mostly all her own fault. After a week and a half, Hermione was deeply considering doing it the next day, but changed her mind when she saw a lesbian couple at a muggle coffee shop. She was getting a quick coffee before work as she had trouble sleeping the night before and had a pile of work on her desk (courtesy of her inability to function properly since her break-up with Parvati), when the couple caught her eye. There were off to the side waiting for their order to come up, holding hands and talking quietly with lots of smiles and low giggles. They looked around their mid-twenties but the way the acted, or rather just their happiness, made them seem like giddy teenagers. Hermione was rummaging through her purse for muggle money, when suddenly, one of the girls spontaneously kissed the other one sweetly on the lips. Hermione caught it out of the corner of her eye, and so did a few other people in the shop. Most people were ambivalent about it as if nothing had happened, a few looked away uncomfortable, and fewer than that had the audacity to give them a rather dirty look. The two women however, were oblivious to the facial expressions and thoughts of the people around them as they both grinned widely at the sudden kiss and continued talking as before. A minute later their coffees were ready and they were gone, not noticing the contemptuous look one man was giving them as they walked out. They were so wrapped in each other, so wrapped in their own little world of conversation, that they did not even notice or let alone care about what other people thought. That was when Hermione decided not to go after Parvati. Really, that was all Parvati had wanted- to kiss Hermione briefly on the lips in public and to have Hermione care more about the sweet gesture than the people around them. Parvati, Hermione decided, deserved someone to give her that.

Hermione left the coffee shop a few minutes later with caffeine and the resolve that she was not good enough for Parvati. She did not deserve her.

After Hermione resolved to not rekindle her relationship with Parvati, time moved in a caffeinated, tired, sleepless blur. She drank sick amounts of coffee, worked incredible hours, and hovered somewhere between a day dream and actual sleep at night. Although she was setting herself up to have some serious repercussions with her health, she had never been more efficient at work. In three days she had cleaned up the week and a half of back lag on her desk. In two more days she was ahead of schedule and taking on new projects and reports. However, instead of her supervisor being pleased at her intern's progress she urged Hermione to go home and rest. Her urging did little to stop Hermione though, she was the first one to the office in the morning and the last one to leave at night.

Hermione's reasoning was simple, the more she kept herself busy the less time she had to dwell on Parvati, or Ron, or the fact that her and Parvati seemed to be on the face of every magazine. So, she broke her back at work writing reports, and running errands, and doing field work helping the other wizards and witches in her department. She was trying to set her life right again- to find some purpose higher than love to motivate her- but found a dreary cycle of eating, restlessness, files, spells, reports, eating and more files. It all became a blur to Hermione as the days blended together with a constant nagging in the back of her mind reminding her of the one she lost and the whispers around the auror office about Voldemort's supporters regaining power and the possible disappearance of a handful of dementors from Azkaban.

As Hermione buried herself in her work, Parvati was dealing with it in an equally unhealthy way.

xxx

_ Shite, _Parvati thought looking at the headline. _The world is going to shite again._

The headline read, **Muggle Deaths on Rise Despite Capture of Supposed Cult Leaders** and showed a group of prisoners being sent off to Azkaban. They were something of fanboys of Death Eaters, although never having been death eaters themselves during the time of Voldemort, there were a group arising in the middle of Britain preaching the same bigotry as before. Muggle deaths were on the rise for the first time since the defeat of Voldemort, and although more and more members of this new cult were being shipped off to Azkaban everyday, it did nothing to stop the increasing number of violence against muggles.

Parvati, tossed the paper aside and tried not to think of how busy Hermione's workload must be getting because of these creeps. She tried, but as with everything else she had been attempting lately, she failed. She tried not to think of Hermione, but she wanted Hermione. She wanted to think of her, and wanted to be concerned for her, and wanted to want her again without this horrible feeling of inadequateness and self-loathing. Parvati had never really dwelled over relationships before. That was, Parvati had never really invested herself so much in a relationship either. It tore her apart that Hermione was gone, that she had told her that she loved her and it had not mattered. Hermione had let her go- had not even looked at her one last time as she left.

Lavender tried to be a good roommate and friend. She made Parvati's comfort foods, tried to engage her in conversation, begged her to cry and get past this; but Parvati found it hard to do anything else but stare blankly at the wall of whichever room she was in and think about how stupid her love for Hermione was.

But, of course time moves on in that careless way it does and Parvati was back at St. Mungo's at the end of the week trying not to think of her horrible weekend. At least work provided her with some distraction- it was after work that was idly becoming the problem. Lavender tried to get her to let loose, go out, and find a rebound but that was about the last thing Parvati felt like doing. It did not take long for Lavender to deem the situation out of her hands, and send a letter to Padma urging her to take some time off and come back from India for awhile and see her sister. Luckily, Padma had become something short of a celebrity among the healers of Mungo's. The researchers she was with in India had done nothing short of mentioning her brilliance to many of the healers of the hospital, so when Padma came in asking for a temporary internship she was gladly taken on.

When Padma got to Lavender's and Parvati's apartment, she was greeted gratefully by Lavender. "I'm so glad you're here Padma. . . she's taken it a lot harder than I figured. I don't think it's helped that it's gone so public."

Padma nodded remembering the handful of magazines that were covering the story excessively and inaccurately as she said to Lavender, "Leave it to me."

She entered the living room and took a seat on the couch next to her sister. Parvati didn't acknowledge her presence or offer any words, but just continued to sit as she was sitting and stare at what she was staring at. She was half mad Lavender made such a fuss to bring her sister over, but half pleased that she had. They sat in silence for a few minutes, until Parvati finally decided to open up and croaked, "I feel so stupid."

Padma brushed Parvati's hair out of her face and tucked it behind her hair. "Tell me," she said.

Parvati's eyes went downcast before they lifted up and looked at her sister. A second later she was crying, big wallowing tears racing down her cheeks and falling in her lap as she choked out the story. She told her about the shouting match with Ron, the way Hermione would not even look at her, and the way she left even though she knew she shouldn't have. She feebly lifted her arms as a signal that Padma recognized and she enveloped her sister in a hug.

The two sisters stayed there hugging in silence (save for the occasional whimper from Parvati) for a short while. Parvati was glad that her twin had avoided to lecture her about what to do and just listened. She knew what she had to do to get Hermione back: she would have to swallow her pride, eat her words, and apologize profusely. However, she held steadfast to her pride and was growing quite concerned with each passing day that Hermione did not want her back as she made no attempt to contact Parvati whatsoever. . . Of course, Parvati reminded herself, she had told Hermione not to.

When it was finally getting late, Padma chose to excuse herself from the room telling her sister she had better get some sleep. "You should get some sleep, you have work tomorrow and so do I. I'm going to be working at St. Mungo's for a little while too before I go back to India."

Parvati nodded and Padma stood up touching her sister's shoulder affectionately before turning to leave.

"Padma," Parvati said standing up. Her sister turned and looked at her. "Thank you," she murmured.

x x x

Although, Parvati seemed to be improving with each day she found herself thinking of excuses to see Hermione in passing just to see how she was doing. She took errands to the ministry that could have been completed by lower interns at work in the hopes of seeing her walking by. Of course, the errands were never on Hermione's floor anyhow and the chance of her seeing Hermione on some obscure floor in the large ministry in the flood of people was little to none, but it did not stop her from craning her neck in the crowd and keeping her eyes out for a bushy-haired witch rather than where she was going. Parvati would not even know what she would do if she saw her, but she just wanted to see her in person rather than the same picture of them snogging that seemed to find it's way on every magazine and newspaper across the country. She stopped looking at them when she was at the market one time and had absentmindedly opened it up to a recent article inside showing a picture of a flustered Hermione being surrounded by reporters at a wizard cafe with the caption of Hermione's apparent quote, "_It was just a drunken mistake."_ She had frowned at the picture and the caption knowing it was a lie and feeling sorry that Hermione was taking so much heat from it.

Although it was hard for Parvati to feel too sorry for Hermione as she had witnessed the same paparazzi crowding eventually forcing her to find a different way to work and ensuring she avoided certain wizarding hot spots and restaurants. This greatly annoyed Lavender who was irked at her best friend's new habit of staying in on Friday and Saturday nights. However, Parvati did not mind it as much as Padma had no trouble staying in and spending time with her especially since Padma was experiencing the same paparazzi treatment as Parvati- the consequence of being her identical twin.

However as another week went by she was finding it a favorite pastime of hers to fantasize about scenarios where she and Hermione would accidentally bump in to each other and magically patch things up. . . the making up, of course, was followed by a thorough and well imagined romping session. . .

Besides going to the ministry, she really had no idea about where to casually run into Hermione. All of Hermione's favorite places were probably overrun by the press as hers were so she knew she couldn't run into her there. The only person she could think of to ask was Ginny who she knew should be back from her honeymoon with Harry by now. She had the slightest inkling that Ginny would understand and at least talk to her about how Hermione was doing. She even had an excuse to owl Ginny as she had not even gotten her white dress at the burrow that day, but avoided doing it not quite sure how Ginny would respond to one of her best friend's ex-girlfriends. Before Parvati could make up her mind though, the situation played out itself.

x x x

There was a knock on the door, and Parvati left the kitchen to answer it with a half-annoyed, half-amused look on her face. "Really, Lav?" she said grabbing the doorknob and twisting it open, "How many times are you going to forget your-"

Parvati stopped, slightly gawking at the redhead in front of her.

"Hi Parvati," Ginny said meekly holding up a familiar looking summer dress. "You left this at the burrow."

"Thanks," Parvati replied awkwardly. She looked away sheepishly. "Come in," she said opening it wider to let her through. "I didn't know you were back from your honeymoon yet," she lied casually as she led her to the living room and draped the dress over the side of a couch. She had in fact, been counting the days. Ginny was her only real link to Hermione and she was not intent on losing track of that connection any time soon.

"Oh we've been back for awhile- a lot sooner than planned. Some business with the auror's- you know it's all over the papers. That whole 'pure-blood' thing is on the rise again, that new cult worshipping Voldemort like he's a God, dementors on the loose. . ."

"There's dementors on the loose?" Parvati asked Ginny alarmed as they took a seat. She did not remember seeing _that_ in the papers anywhere.

Ginny bit her lip and looked as if she were wracking her brain to remember something. "Actually that might not have gone public yet- they're not really sure if there are some missing. . . complicated auror stuff I probably shouldn't have told you. . ."

"Don't worry my lips are sealed."

"You know it'll probably come out soon I'm surprised they've kept it under wraps for this long." Ginny sighed thoughtfully. "That's the ministry I guess. At least the leadership is better now."

Parvati agreed. "Sorry you're honeymoon got cut short. I'm surprised they sent for him."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "No, no one sent for him, but he heard about this one case he was helping out on got some headway and he wanted to come back. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, vanquishing dark wizards seems to be a hobby of his even when he's on vacation. . . You know it's funny that he's still only officially an intern but they treat him like a full-fledged auror. I mean I know why they do, but he can still officially be cut from the program if he doesn't pass his tests."

Parvati laughed. "Even if he failed his tests how could you deny the wizard that killed Voldemort an occupation as an auror?"

"It would be ironic, and we could very well see it how it plays out if he doesn't start studying. . . I swear I wish Hermione was becoming an auror just so she would keep on him about it."

There was an uncomfortable silence that followed. At least that's how it felt for Parvati. Ginny still looked perfectly at ease, but unknowing how to continue the conversation. "Can I get you anything to drink?" Parvati asked awkwardly gesturing towards the kitchen.

"I'll take a butterbeer if you have it."

Parvati nodded and left the room to grab some bottles.

"Oh, I heard your sister's back in town," Ginny called from the living room.

Parvati nodded as she made her way back to her guest offering her a bottle. "For awhile. . . I swear all the healer's love her- she's making me look really bad," she said with a half smile as she took a seat across from the newlywed.

Ginny smiled. "Blimey, you want to talk about being overshadowed by siblings? I think I beat you on that."

"Well I can think of one you could never be overshadowed by," Parvati said sorely thinking of Ron.

The two sat in silence for a minute and Parvati shifted uncomfortably in her seat taking a swig of her butterbeer. She knew the topic was going to come up and had a feeling Ginny was waiting for it. Not wanting to let the tension build from the silence any longer she asked quietly, "So how's Hermione?"

Ginny gave her an expression half torn between amusement and pity. "About as miserable-looking as you, although she would never admit to it. . ."

"I'm not miserable," Parvati denied automatically.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Yes, well neither is Hermione. . ."

"So what did she tell you?"

"She didn't diverge me the details except that you told her you weren't coming back-"

"Because she told me she to go!" Parvati practically shouted as she jumped up from her seat. Some butterbeer splashed on the carpeted floor. "I never wanted to leave!"

Ginny raised an eyebrow at her sudden outburst, but then her expression turned careful and thoughtful. "She just came out to one of her best friends, her best friend's family, and the whole wizarding world in a very indelicate way," she explained slowly. "Of course she wanted some time alone to digest it. It doesn't mean she meant forever."

Parvati felt her face grow hot, suddenly feeling very stupid. "Then how come she hasn't come back yet? She hasn't owled me or come to see me-"

"Parvati," Ginny said in an exasperated voice, "you told her not to come back. And, if you haven't noticed you haven't been at her doorstep to see her either."

"But- but you weren't there Ginny," Parvati said trying to ignore her very good point. "You don't know. . . I told her," Parvati swallowed and felt the corner of her eyes produce tears. "I told her I loved her and she wouldn't even look at me." Parvati stood there and looked away dejectedly feeling as ashamed and pathetic as the day that had all happened.

She felt Ginny's eyes on her as she said something that could have easily sounded snobbish and cruel if it wasn't said in such s soft sympathetic voice. Parvati shifted uncomfortably where she stood as Ginny countered, "But, if you love her Parvati, you wouldn't be acting like this."

x x x

Hermione walked into St. Mungo's trying to look cool and collected. In reality she was sweating bullets and her heart was beating frantically against her chest. She unthinkingly crinkled the forms in her hand before she realized what she was doing and tried to repair the damage by smoothing it over.

The forms were statements that needed to be signed by a muggle victim. Usually, muggles were in such a state when they were victimized by wizards- trauma from the attack and the complete absurdity of seeing magic left them in a pretty incoherent state, but this man was different. He was a muggle, but was actually quite familiar with magic in the sense that he had married a witch and fathered a magical child. Although his wife died shortly after the birth of their son, he understood the basics of magic and could recognize it. He gave his recount of the attack, albeit a bit shaken up, it was a solid testament to the mistreatment muggles were facing and a great testimony to be used when the attackers were caught. Hermione just had some forms for him to sign allowing her department to use his statements.

But, she wasn't there because he had to sign some forms. Really, anyone could have done it, but when the forms had been prepared and the boss asked who wanted to take them to St. Mungo's Hermione opened her mouth before she had the sense to close it. She knew why she wanted to go, yet she was feeling faint and panicky as she walked into St. Mungo's. She smoothed her robes and tried not to notice how hot they were making her as she made her way to the fourth floor.

Hermione had only been in St. Mungo's a few times and only to visit patients. She realized she had never gone just to see Parvati. How many times over the summer had Parvati visited her in the ministry? It was more than a handful of times that Parvati had stopped by and dropped off lunch at her office so they could eat together and catch up as Hermione talked about her workload and complained about plans for Ginny's wedding. It had not occurred to Hermione until just now that she had not once bothered to drop off a lunch for Parvati or just come in and say hi for a few minutes. It was now that Hermione didn't even know what floor Parvati worked on. She assumed Parvati just worked where they wanted her, but that seemed silly that they would not specialize their interns on one place, as well as unproductive. She racked her brain for information. Had Parvati ever told? Had Hermione ever asked?

She tried to shake off the rather disappointing feeling and focused on what she was supposed to be doing. This trip was about a muggle who was victimized and tortured by a group of pure-blood biggots. It had nothing to do with Parvati. . .

Yet Hermione couldn't help but keep her eyes on every passing face rather than where was walking. And, as she was about to go through the door where the muggle man was, a pretty Indian girl came out of a room at the end of the hall talking to a healer as she glanced through some notes on her clipboard looking as familiar and wonderful as ever. . .


	13. Chapter 13

**Well here's the next chapter. Thanks for everyone who's been reviewing and favoriting. You guys are the best :) I really, really appreciate it. I have a pretty clear idea of where the rest of this story is going so I just got to get it all down on paper.**

**As always let me know if there are any mistakes**, **and as always I own nothing and all these characters are J.K. Rowling's I just borrow them for my amusement sometimes.**

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><p>It would suffice to say Hermione was slightly nauseated as the healer and the Indian girl walked closer and closer to her down the hall still oblivious to the bushy-haired witch her stood there with her mouth slacked open and her hand glued to the door handle. Hermione's eyes were toward the two, but completely unfocused. She could not handle looking at the woman in front of her, it would make it all too real, yet she found it hard to move and hard to not keep her in the line of sight.<p>

Everything seemed to be happening quickly and yet slowly at the same time. The door to the handle she was holding opened from the other side and a nurse gave a small yelp in surprise to see Hermione standing there. Out of her peripheral vision she saw the healer Parvati was talking to turn a corner leaving Parvati alone still walking down the hall. The nurse apologized and said something that she let herself chuckle to and Hermione stood there like a bloody troll oblivious and yet very aware of what was all going on. She knew the nurse thought she ought to be a patient rather than a visitor judging from the look she gave her as Hermione still stood at the door not going inside, she knew the most beautiful girl in the world had noticed her because she had stopped dead in the hallway, and she knew that the hardest thing would be to look in those beautiful brown eyes like she deserved to.

Hermione swallowed feeling her mouth go dry as she turned to address the girl that she thought she knew so well. The girl she had secretly fantasized about all seventh year, the girl she whispered songs to as she fell asleep, the girl she had teased about divination, and the girl that she had held naked in her arms only a few weeks ago and experienced things she had never in her wildest dreams expected. She was also the girl whose heart she had effectively broken, and the girl who had looked at her with such hate before she left even if Hermione was too much of a wimp to look.

Feeling antsy and disoriented Hermione finally focused her gaze staring at the witch staring at her and was not at all surprised to see the wonderful dark brown skin, the alluring silky long hair, and the magnificent dark eyes. She was stunned, however, to see that she was not the most beautiful girl in the world. That title belonged to her twin sister.

"Padma!" Hermione said surprised. "I er- I thought. . . weren't you doing work in India?"

Padma smiled a smile that was uniquely her own, but still quite like her sister's. Hermione felt what seemed like a punch in the stomach. She was half relieved it had not been Parvati, half severely disappointed. "I'm back for a few weeks visiting my sister," Padma answered. "If you're looking for Parvati, she only had a half day today. . ."

"I'm not looking for her," Hermione answered a little too quickly. She felt her cheeks turn slightly red. "Ministry stuff," she said holding the forms up weakly.

"Oh," Padma answered looking a little disappointed. She shifted awkwardly looking as if she didn't quite know what to say. She did not have the gift of gab like her sister did.

"How is she?"

Padma looked uncomfortable for some reason, and Hermione couldn't help but notice she looked exactly like an uncomfortable Parvati. "She's good."

"Tell her I said. . ." Hermione hesitated not quite knowing what to say, "hi." The cynical audience in Hermione's head laughed heartily and she looked away stupidly.

Padma nodded. "Yeah, okay."

"Okay, I er- better get this stuff done. Nice seeing you."

"Take care Hermione," she said with a smile and walked past her as Hermione finally opened the door to take care of her forms.

x x x

"I have plans for us tonight. We're going on a double date."

Parvati, who had been uncaringly dissecting a piece of pizza with her fork looked up at her friend with a rather annoyed look on her face. She had been successfully sulking for the entire afternoon since the departure of Ginny, and was rather intent on staying in that state for the rest of the night.

"What?" Parvati asked keeping no attempt to hide the disdain in her voice.

"We're going on a double date with Seamus and Dean," Lavender said not noticing, (or rather ignoring) the displeasure in her friend's voice. "And, we're going out to eat so you might want to ditch the Italian cuisine. We're leaving in an hour."

Parvati let her fork clank loudly on her plate as she watched her friend move quickly around the kitchen grabbing a drink and dropping her stuff as she had just walked in the door a few minutes ago. "Lav," she sighed, "I'm really not in the mood tonight. Besides, how can I go anyway? The press have almost left me alone I don't want to give them something to go on."

"The press won't be a problem Parv," Lavender said with a smile stopping in front of her friend and taking the plate away from her. She took a bite of the pizza and dropped the rest in the sink. "We're strictly muggle tonight."

"Don't call me 'Parv' I hate that nickname," Parvati said looking forlornly at where her unfinished comfort food was lying in the dirty sink.

"You don't like any of the names I give you. . . well except 'Vati'" Lavender said as she licked her finger that was smudged with marina sauce. "'Perverti' was my favorite for you though," she said looking nostalgic. "I gave it to you the first night we got drunk together. . . remember, fourth year?"

Parvati sighed, "Yes." She knew exactly where she was going with this. Whenever Lavender wanted to convince her best friend to do something all she had to do was remind her of all the fun times they had had together. Even though Lavender wasn't as sneaky as she thought, Parvati always found it funny how Lavender always brought up old fond memories when she was trying to convince Parvati to go out with her and make new fond memories.

"You also told me you were bi that night. Remember you confessed your little crush on Alicia Spinnet?"

Parvati shook her head wanting to seem annoyed but was rather amused. "I remember quite distinctly you laughed your arse off."

Lavender grinned wickedly. "Only because I was drunk, and you said, and I quote, 'Merlin I'm jealous of her broomstick.'"

"I _was _jealous of her broomstick."

"Well anyway, I took it well and kept your secret like you wanted me to," Lavender said loyally. "I never once said mean things to you or discouraged you for being who you were. I never once tried to use you when I was going through my experimental stage, and I've always loved you."

Parvati rolled her eyes, but found it hard to disagree. "Yes, Lav, you've been the best friend I've always wanted." She sighed, knowing she was going to have to get ready for a double date soon.

"Hey," Lavender said leveling with her. The guffaw was gone from her voice and she sounded slightly serious as she locked eyes with her best friend. "I know you loved her. . . but I hate how you're shutting yourself in. . . I think it's good if you go out and have some fun. Really I want to see you happy again, Vati."

Parvati sighed and nodded knowing it was inevitable. "So where are we going anyway?"

x x x

When Padma got home to the apartment, she was greeting by Lavender running around the house in a towel shouting questions to Parvati about where her mini skirt was. Parvati came out of her room a second later and tossed it to her. With her tight jeans and a small top, it was evident to Padma that her sister was finally going out tonight, and Padma couldn't help but sigh a little in relief.

"Hey Padma, how was work?" Parvati asked noticing her sister.

"You know that wizard who's only been able to talk in riddles for the past week?" Padma said as the two of them started walking back to their temporary shared room.

"Yeah," Parvati answered as she sat in her vanity and started curling her hair with her wand and a spell.

"Well, he's still speaking in riddles," Padma sighed. "We still can't figure out how he got that way. The healers told him to tell them in a riddle, but no one is apparently very good at riddles. . ."

Parvati snorted appreciatively and Padma smiled. "So going out tonight?" she asked her sister.

Parvati nodded. "Lav convinced me to go double with Seamus and Dean tonight," she finished her hair and tilted her head as she began to put on her earrings. "Sorry I should have told you sooner I hate leaving you here alone."

"Well," Padma smiled a little ruefully. "I ran into Anthony Goldstein the other day and he asked to take me on a date."

Parvati gave her sister an impressed look through the mirror. "Do you like him?"

Padma shrugged. "Well I'm only going to be around for a little while."

"Always thought you two looked cute together," Parvati informed her sister. She grabbed some make-up, but stopped halfway. Really, she had not worn any in awhile. Although Hermione had never asked her not to wear any, she knew her girlfriend had always preferred a more natural look.

As if Padma was reading her mind she said. "I saw her today. . . Hermione came into St. Mungo's."

"What?" Parvati asked surprised knocking over her arrangement of lipsticks.

"She said she had some paperwork from the ministry. I think it had something to do with that muggle we got in last week. . ."

"Well, what did she say?"

She opened her mouth to respond, but was drowned out by a loud Lavender. "Have you seen my sequin's top?" she yelled from the other side of the apartment.

"Lav!" Parvati yelled back annoyed. "No! I- keep track of your own things-"

"I need it! The boys are expecting us there any minute-"

"Use a summoning charm!"

She could hear her friend cursing, but Parvati hardly cared. She looked back at her sister in earnest who said thoughtfully, "Well, I think she thought I was you at first. She looked a bit frazzled. It was kinda awkward really."

"What did she say though?"

"She said she thought I was still in India so I told her-"

"About me, Padma!" Parvati snapped wanting to get to the point. She had the shrewd notion that Lavender would come in at any moment and pull her away.

"She asked me how you were and-"

"Parvati, I'm ready we're leaving now!" Lavender called from her room.

"And?" Parvati said wishing her sister would hurry this story.

"I told her you were doing good, and she told me to tell you she said-"

"Vati, we're leaving. We're already late," Lavender announced walking into the room.

"Shh, this is important-" Parvati shushed her and looked hopefully at her sister. "What did she want to tell me?"

"Hi."

"Hi?"

"Hi."

Lavender rolled her eyes. "As exhilerating as that story is we have to go, Vati," she said grabbing her friend by the arm and pulling her out the bedroom.

"Just hi?" Parvati asked looking behind her for clarification as her sister followed the two of them out of the room.

"That's it,' her sister reassured her and before Parvati could say any more to her sister Lavender pulled her out of the apartment and side-apparated away with her to Seamus' apartment.

They did not stay at the apartment long. They went out to a small cozy restaurant in a small muggle town then out to that movie theater Dean had been telling them about for years. Dinner went by rather slow for Parvati. All she wanted to do was sit and meticulously think about what exactly Hermione meant by saying _hi._ However, every time she seemed to get quiet Dean would ask her something or engage her in a new conversation. She found herself looking forward to the movie where the only thing she would have to listen to was the big screen which wouldn't bombard her with conversation if she ignored it. It wasn't that she was annoyed at Dean. He was always, and still was, a gentlemen through and through, but she did not feel like being the recipient of his affections. And halfway through the movie, as his arm snaked delicately around her neck, she knew she was probably going to disappoint him tonight. The fact that Lavender stopped giggling halfway through the movie by the intrusion of Seamus' tongue in her mouth did not help.

The four of them made it back to the apartment about a couple hours later after Seamus had insisted that they all go back to their apartment to have some drinks. Which would have been fine if Lavender hadn't stopped asking dumb questions halfway through the movie as Seamus started occupying her mouth, which would have been fine if Parvati wanted to get with Dean tonight as Dean obviously wanted to get with Parvati, which would have been fine if Parvati could just get this other witch out of her mind.

"Lavender," Parvati hissed as the boys went in the kitchen to get drinks for them. "You didn't say anything about drinks."

"Well, I thought that it was implied since their both nice gentlemen. Of course they're gonna ask us to come over to-"

"Please, Lavender don't leave me alone with Dean," Parvati pleaded grabbing her friend's arm.

Lavender rolled her eyes. "C'mon Parvati what's he going to do to you? Not anything you don't want to," Lavender answered it for herself pointedly.

Parvati took her hand off of her friend and sulked. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted you with Seamus around," she said more to herself than Lavender. Asking Lavender not to give in to her physical wants (especially when she would be drinking), Parvati knew, was like asking a cat not to chase a rat.

Before Lavender had a chance to respond, the boys had come back in the room carrying glasses and a bottle of firewhisky. Seamus poured Lavender a rather full glass. "I know how much you like you're whisky," he said with a wink.

Lavender let out a flirtatious giggle that let Parvati know she was going to have to leave the apartment by herself if she was going to go home. Between the alcohol and the sex, Lavender obviously, would be spending the night.

Dean took the bottle. "How about you Parvati," he asked as he poured some into a glass, "as much as Lav?"

"No, just a little thank you," Parvati said with a small smile.

"Oh." He looked rather disappointed and poured himself a rather large amount after he handed Parvati her glass.

They started talking about the movie or something. Parvati lost her interest in the conversation as the popular discussion in her mind took over.

_Hi? _the properly offended part of her asked incredelously, _what the hell does that mean?_

_She probably didn't know what to say, _the rational part of her sighed in defeat_. Padma caught her off guard and she thought she had to say something. . . She didn't go to the hospital to see me._

_ But she knew you worked there, _a hopeful voice thought. _She must have figured she could have run into you. Maybe she wanted to see you._

_If she wanted to see you,_ a shrewd voice countered_, she would have seen you already. . ._

_But, I'm doing the same thing,_ Parvati thought. _I've been going to the ministry to try and see her with an excuse to. . . maybe it's the same thing. _

_ Even if it's the same thing, it's still not love. You heard what Ginny said, _the shrewd voice sauntered, _you know it's true. . ._

_ "_Parvati!" Dean said loudly.

Parvati snapped back to reality and woke from her reverie. Three pairs of eyes were on her. Two were already happily alight already buzzed from the alcohol, but Dean's looked sober and sad despite the fact that he had already downed quite a lot.

"Sorry, I was just thinking. . ." Parvati muttered and took a sip of her drink. "I should probably go soon-"

"No stay!" Seamus objected immediately he took Parvati's glass and filled it to the brim, then took a swig of it straight from the bottle.

Lavender giggled as the alcohol dripped from his chin onto his t-shirt.

"Whoops," he laughed noticing. He set down the bottle and got up from his seat and pulled off his shirt which made Lavender giggle even harder. "Gonna get a new shirt," he said and winked at Lavender as he started walking towards his room in the back of the apartment.

Lavender took the bottle from the table and took a very deep gulp from it before standing up and announcing she was going to help Seamus find a shirt (because he obviously, could not very well pick out a shirt by himself). She took the bottle with her as walked out of the room.

Parvati could have slapped her. She knew this was going to happen, but still had half hope she would return. Dean tried to make small talk as if they were just waiting for their friends to return despite the fact that they had heard the door close, but when they heard the sound of furniture thumping spastically against the wall he decided to give up on that and turned on the television. "And they took the whiskey with them," he said with a sigh as he flipped through the channels.

"Do you watch a lot of television?" Parvati asked. Besides Hermione he was the only wizard she knew that had a television set.

"Not too much, but I like to keep up on West Ham games," he gave her a small smile as if encouraged that she was finally attempting conversation. "They always have some good movies now and then though. Did you like the movie we went to by the way?"

"It was alright," Parvati lied. Truth be told she could barely remember what the movie was about. She had more urgent things on her mind.

"Tell you what," he said handing her the remote. "You find us something nice to watch and I'll scavenge through the kitchen to see what we still have to drink. You know how to work it?"

Parvati nodded remembering Hermione had showed her at her house. Although the buttons were a bit different she was sure she could manage it.

He smiled. "Be right back," he said and left the room.

Parvati sighed and started flipping through the channels. She really felt she ought to leave, but knew Dean would just insist and insist she stayed until she eventually did. She had a feeling she was in for a long night.

She went to the movie section and started flipping through the action movies.

Action movies, she discovered, usually consisted of a plethora of explosions and at least one thorough love scene. Hermione had showed her muggle movies before and although Hermione was not the biggest fan of action movies as she was of documentaries, Parvati need not have seen more than her small action collection to understand that r-rated action movies consisted of at least one decent romping session. Which was fine and great when she was snuggling on the couch with her girlfriend and the partial nudity they were seeing made Parvati eager to see Hermione's nudity, but when she was on a couch of an old friend's apartment it was probably best to stay away from that. But, as she flipped it to a new channel, it went to a rather steamy sex scene that made Parvati sit there awkwardly knowing she should change it yet too mesmerized by the half-naked woman on the screen arousing her on-screen lover to actually change the channel.

"Found something you like?" Dean asked as he came back into the room. He was holding a jug of mead and smirking as he looked at the television.

Parvati felt her face grow very hot very fast. She immediately changed the channel and it landed on a war movie. She looked away awkwardly and set down the remote. Dean chuckled and sat right next to Parvati on the couch. He set down the mead and poured the two of them a glass.

"I think it's really cute when you blush," Dean said handing her a glass.

Parvati caught his eye when he gave her the glass and blushed more despite herself. She shook her head embarrassed.

"I think it's really cute when you get embarrassed," Dean continued taking a sip of his drink.

Parvati sighed. "It's really not. . ."

Dean chuckled. "I've been thinking it's cute for seven years. You can't tell me to stop thinking it now. It's far too embedded."

Parvati gulped and Dean moved closer to her, outstretching a hand to move a strand of hair out of her face. "I've been thinking you're beautiful for seven years too," he said softly.

The movie on the television grew quiet and the apartment was silent except for the whispered dialogue of two soldiers in the midst of battle and the consistent thumping of a headboard hitting a wall from Seamus' room.

"Look at me," Dean asked and before Parvati could think of anything else she looked at him and very much liked what she saw. Dean, Parvati could not deny, was beautiful. He was tall, dark, and handsome. The kind of man girls dream about marrying when they get older. The kind of man Parvati should want to marry because she could tell from his eyes that sparkled with honesty that he would never hurt her or be unfaithful. He was the kind of man that would wait seven years for a chance to dance with the girl of his dreams at a friend's wedding and would beat himself up the next night for ruining it by getting in competition with the former class clown. He was the kind of man that would wait seven years for the opportunity and the courage to tuck a strand of hair behind a girl's ear and feel like the luckiest guy on the planet just because he was looking into her eyes and she was finally looking back.

That was when Parvati actually understood: this was love.

The kind of love that was patient and undemanding. That was everything warm, comfortable, and unselfish.

But, also the kind of love that was terribly unrequited.

Dean moved his hand to Parvati's cheek and she could almost imagine what those talented artist's fingers could do if she would let them. He leaned in and she knew his heart is racing because he has been waiting so long for a single kiss.

"Dean," Parvati said and leaned back putting a hand on his arm to stop him. She saw Dean slump down ever the slightest. Although he was trying his best to not look disappointed, his eyes don't quite meet hers. "I can't."

Dean nodded and looked away like he was thinking very hard about something. After a moment he asked, "Do you love her?" He looked up like he was truly curious about the answer.

She was almost envious of him. The way he had never physically been with the one he loved, but still loved so maturely like he already knew what love entailed and all it meant while Parvati was still learning.

"I'm trying."

"Trying?" he asked incredulously. "What does that mean?"

"Well, we're not exactly on speaking terms right now-"

"So make yourself on speaking terms-"

"It's not that simple," Parvati argued.

"Yes it is!" he said looking at her as if it was the easiest thing in the world. "Do you want to love her?"

"Yes-"

"Then find her. It's late enough she should be home."

"Right now?" Parvati asked feeling panicky.

"Right now," he said with a nod. "If you're really trying, you'll swallow your pride and go."

"You think she'll-"

"Yes."

"What if she-"

"She won't."

"Dean?" she said his name like a question stunned that he was helping her like this after just getting shut down.

He smiled, but it was not his usual smile. He was trying too hard to force his lips to move in an upward curve. It was far from natural and smooth. "She'll let you in," Dean said addressing her worry, "and she won't push you away. She'd be insane if she did Parvati."

Parvati gave him a small smile and stood up ready to leave, albeit a bit nervous. She could feel her hands shaking as he followed suit and walked her to the door.

"You sober enough to apparate or do you need me to get you there?" he asked while opening the door for her.

Parvati shook her head. "I think I can manage it," she assured him taking out her wand. They looked at each other a minute. Dean looked away awkwardly as Parvati blushed.

Finally Dean said, "You better get going."

She nodded. "Thank you Dean," she murmured and she went on her tip-toes to give him a kiss on the cheek.

He closed his eyes and let out a sad chuckle, and when he opened them again she was already gone. He stood alone in the doorway, in the quiet of the apartment except for the occasional sound of gunshots from the movie and the random moans emitting from his roommate's room, and wondered if he had done the right thing. It was clear to him now, that he could not keep seeing Parvati in these casual settings knowing that it was certain she would never be his. He shut the door of the apartment knowing that this was the last he would see of Parvati for a very long time, and wondered rather sadly if she would even notice.


	14. Chapter 14

**Again, late update. I apologize. I've been very busy lately and have had a lot going on, but I have not forgotten the story. I will finish this- I know how it's going to end and work out it's just a matter of getting the time to write it. **

**As always Thank you for everyone who's reviewed or favorited. Hermione and Parvati aren't exactly a power couple so I never really expected much when I began to write the story, but it's always been a pleasure to read a review or to see how many people have favorited or signed up for story updates. You guys are awesome :)**

**And as always, any mistakes let me know. I put this up in kinda rush- wanted to get it up before I started work.**

* * *

><p>Parvati apparated in the alley behind Hermione's apartment building. As Hermione lived in a muggle residence it was a good idea not to pop up in the lobby. With a flick of the wand the doors to the building opened and she started climbing the stairs to the second floor to where her ex-lover would be.<p>

It was hard to say how Parvati was feeling at the moment. One part of her was optimistic that this would go over extremely well, although, truth be told Parvati had no idea what she was going to say when Hermione opened the door. The other part of her was slightly worried that this visit at one o'clock in the morning was not exactly the way to make up with her girlfriend. However, Parvati was dead set on seeing Hermione after Dean's little pep talk and also slightly eager to prove Ginny wrong.

She went up the last stair and walked up to the door. She swallowed. Her mouth went a bit dry and her heart beat a bit faster, but before she could rationalize a way out of it, she knocked on the door. She stood on the hearth impatiently waiting, her foot tapping rythmatically. After a few minutes she knocked again a little longer and more forcefully. The door however, remained as closed as ever, as if laughing at her.

She knocked on the door louder. "Hermione it's me. Open up. . . please," she added as an afterthought. Still silence.

Parvati scowled and pounding on the door. "C'mon Hermione please. Look, I'm sorry! Okay? Just let me in- let's talk about this!"

Parvati couldn't even hear any sounds coming from the other side of the door. She grew even angrier. Her temper seemed to be something of a fuse lately, ever since leaving Hermione she did seem a bit more hot-headed than usual.

"Fine," Parvati snarled. "You asked for it." Ignoring the fact that she was probably disturbing every single one of the tenants on the floor, ignoring the fact that probably every one of those tenants was a muggle, and ignoring the the fact that it was one in the morning and eventually someone would come to throw her out she pulled out her wand and did a swift flick at the door handle and a sound like a small explosion burst from the tip of her wand. It was a bit smokier than she anticipated, and she coughed as she swatted it away with her hand to see the damage she had inflicted on the door. Once it cleared away though, she was disappointed and angered to see that the door suffered no damage at all. Not even a single scratch.

Parvati let out a frustrated cry. "You stupid, stupid smart witch!" Parvati cursed as she kicked the door with her foot. "Just let me in damni-"

She stopped as she saw a man out of the corner of her eye that looked like he might just be a few years older than her, gawking at her from the top of the staircase.

Parvati blushed and hastily stowed her wand out of sight, hoping he hadn't been ogling at that too much and hoping he had missed the explosion and had just been watching her tantrum instead.

"You- you're her girlfriend right?" the man stammered knocking himself out of his wordless staring.

"I . . ." she stopped not knowing how much she should divulge. She certainly did not want to seem like the crazy ex-girlfriend type, although her whole behavior towards the door did seem to point at that direction. "I am her girlfriend," she decided to tell him. She was hastily trying to think of why a good, loving girlfriend would be pounding on her lover's door in the middle of the night, but she was spared because the next thing that came out of his mouth was far from an accusation.

"She might not be home yet," he hedged slowly like he really wasn't sure if he should be telling her this. "Sometimes she gets back when I do. . . or after me. She's had a lot of late nights lately at her office."

"Oh. . . right of course," Parvati said trying to play it off smooth, although she felt like a complete idiot.

"Right, well," he walked up to his door (to the left of Hermione's) and started putting the key through his lock. "You should probably stop kicking though. There's this old guy at the end of the hall. . . you don't want to get on his bad side."

"Yeah of course," she said and stepped away from the door and started towards the stairs. "Well thanks," she continued a little to awkwardly. "Goodnight."

"See ya," he said and went in his apartment and closed the door behind him.

She walked quickly down the steps and out the door of the building. Although Parvati thought it was an absurd time of night to still be at the office, she could not deny that Hermione was always a bit addicted to her work and that excuse for being out at one in the morning on a Friday night made more sense than her at a club. It would at least be worth a checkout. Besides Hermione was sure to know about Parvati's insistence anyway the next time she saw her neighbor, it seemed almost half-hearted not to go and see if she was still at work when she was pointed in that direction.

She made her way in the alley she had apparated in before and concentrated on getting herself to the Ministry. With a small crack she was transported to the an alley across the street to the entrance of the Ministry of Magic and was surprised with what she saw.

x x x

The place was crawling with aurors. There were at least ten by the phone-booth visitor's entrance and more walking by the street as if guarding the building. Parvati felt her stomach drop- whatever was going on it, it was not good news. She hesitantly started making her way across the street, trying to pick out the nicest looking auror to inquire what was going on, but they all looked grim. Deciding that she was just going to have to pick one to talk to she stopped one of the auror's patrolling the street. He wore a long trench coat and had short dirty blond hair covered by a crisp businessman's hat. He looked like a handsome muggle salesman except when he turned to face Parvati his cheekbone hit the light from the street lamps and a long gash was exposed disfiguring his face. It made him look like the kind of auror who's had such experience in a scrape that you would not want to cross him in a dark alley. Appropriately that was probably why they had him guarding the ministry when something was obviously happening on the inside.

"Yes?" he asked after Parvati stopped him.

Parvati tried to not look at the scar, but hesitated as her mind went blank. "I was wondering- I mean I was asking. . . umm so what's up with Ministry?"

He raised on eyebrow at her. Parvati smiled at him weakly, but he was not amused. "That's official auror business."

"But you see," Parvati hedged. "I need to go in."

"No one is going in tonight-"

"But. . . I-I have a friend in there."

"We've sent some people in to check it out. If there was anyone in there we would have them out already-"

"What's going on?" Parvati blurted out.

The auror gave her a look that told her he was done playing twenty questions. "This is confidential information and I can no long entertain your questions. I have a job to do and I would rather not have to forcefully remove you from the street."

Parvati opened her mouth to protest about to argue that he did not have the right to remove her from the street when he arched his eyebrow in such an authoritative way that suggested he would gladly hand her a port-key to some obscure part of the country to get rid of her. She closed her mouth and made her way back across the street feeling the auror's eyes on her back as she left.

She continued walking the down the street unsure of what to do. She could not very well go back to her apartment now- she was too worried about what was going on at the ministry where Hermione was supposedly (and probably) was. However, she was at a loss of any way of finding out what exactly the problem was. She was lost in thought barely caring where she was going when a tall, lanky man dressed in muggle street clothing walked swiftly out of a narrow alley and into the sidewalk right into Parvati.

"Oomph."

Parvati fell down onto the sidewalk, but the other man managed to stay on his feet. "Woah, are you o-"

Parvati recognized the voice immediately and cursed. This was not an auror in training who would want to help her. She looked up and sighed, the hand that was probably extended a few seconds ago to help her up was now a clenched fist turning white in anger which contrasted nicely with the red of his hair and face.

"What are you doing here?" Ron spat as Parvati helped herself to her feet and brushed off her clothes.

"I could ask you the same thing," she responded trying to keep her tone somewhat civil. Ron could prove to be an asset after all.

"This is auror business-"

"What? I can't walk around a public street?" Parvati shot back before he could finish.

He looked like he was going to say no, when a another wizard appeared behind him. "Who're you talking to Ron- oh-" he asked before recognizing Parvati.

"Harry!" Parvati exclaimed happy that she finally found an auror she could possibly work with.

"So what's-" Harry started but was cut off by Parvati.

"Why are there a bunch of auror's at the ministry?"

Harry looked at her with surprise partly because she cut him off and partly because she was demanding answers like she had the right to know them. "I can't tell you, it's official auror-"

"It's none of your business," Ron said finishing Harry's explanation for him. "You're not an auror, you can read whatever our head of department releases in the prophet when he does like everyone else."

"You're not even an auror," Parvati countered in a snarky voice before she could help herself.

Ron opened his mouth to retaliate, but his time Harry cut him off. "We're not auror's yet," he told Parvati agreeing with her, "But the department let us be here tonight so we're here tonight and we really aren't supposed to be talking to anyone about this-"

"You're asking me to leave?"

"Respectfully, yes."

The two stared each other in the eye as if sizing the other one up. They had come along way from the yule ball in fourth year. Harry was undeniably much more confident and less awkward, and Harry could not deny that Parvati had far outgrown being a silly teenage girl.

"Hermione's in there," Parvati told him with confidence. She did not know why she said it with such conviction. Obviously she had now way of knowing for sure besides her muggle neighbor's suspicions, but even as she said it- it felt right.

"What?" Harry asked sounding surprised but not unbelieving. Ron, however, picked up on the cynicism.

"How would you know?" he sneered. "You're not together anymore."

"And how would you know she's not?" Parvati retorted. "I doubt she's talked to you since that day and you only know what you read about her in the magazines. It's not like she talks to you."

Ron's ears turned an ugly color letting Parvati know she had hit the head on the nail. She smirked.

"Really Parvati," Harry asked seriously. "Is she in there?"

The expression on Harry's face wiped the smirk off her face and she felt her face drain with fear. "Harry," she said softly, her voice slightly shaking, "what's in there?"

He hesitated before he continued in a low voice, looking around first to make sure no other auror's were near. "A few weeks ago we lost account of some guards from. . . Azkaban."

"Dementors on the loose. . ." Parvati muttered remembering what Ginny had said earlier. "How many?"

This time Ron spoke. "At least fifty or more."

"And what they're running around trying to get to ministry?" Parvati shivered as if expecting one to pop up next to her.

"_In _the ministry," Harry said looking uneasy. "There was a massive break-in in the ministry after hours. . . we're trying to contain them now in the ministry before we can take care of them. We don't know how many of them there are."

Ron looked pale and hung his head, Parvati looked faint. "But Hermione-"

"You're sure she's in there?" Harry said cutting her off.

"I talked to her neighbor. He said she's been getting back from work later and later, not until midnight or after. . ."

Harry shook his head as if trying to think. "The dementors broke in around ten, if she was there then. . . she probably hasn't gotten out."

"But auror's have gone in there, they haven't found anyone," Ron said as if trying to salvage some hope.

Harry shook his head again. "We don't know what floors they've checked or what they've found. Besides if Hermione felt them coming she's probably been moving around. You don't want to be cornered by them." The memory of third year came to his mind and he could see himself and Hermione cornered by the lake with a hundred dementors surrounding them. Hermione was not very good with the patronus then, but she was older now and would fair much better. Harry tried to wave off the fact that she was, however, alone this time.

"We have to get her," Parvati said and Harry looked at Ron who nodded.

"'Right mate. . . let's get her," Ron said still looking slightly pale.

Harry and Ron waited which would have been the perfect part for Hermione's voice to chime in with reason. To tell them to let the professionals take care of it and that they would be hurt otherwise, that they shouldn't go bursting into the ministry all willy-nilly like they had fifth year because that had been an utter disaster, but the voice of reason never came and was replaced by a new voice that sounded eager, worried, yet determined and reckless.

"So, do you know a way in?" Parvati asked.

x x x

Harry was not as full of conviction as he usually was. This was Hermione's fault. Something about tonight was too awfully reminiscent of that night in fifth year, and Hermione's reasonable doubt about Sirius being the ministry had turned into Harry's reasonable doubt about Hermione being in the ministry. Of course the circumstances were different- there was no Voldemort trying to lure him out but there was plenty of his supporters that still hated him to the core to pull a stunt like this. However, even if he did not go in, he knew Ron would and the determined look from Parvati's face told him she would go in too. He sighed as he knew he would never forgive himself if Hermione was really in there and he had done nothing to get her out. Resigning himself to help and put his new job on the line, he conjured up a blindfold out of thin air and proceeded to ask something he knew Parvati would not at all be agreeable to.

"There's a few other ways into the ministry, but it's not public knowledge. If you're going to go in, you're going to have to wear this-" he started to explain, but was cut off abruptly by Ron.

"We're not talking her with us," he said as if it were already decided.

"Excuse me Ron, but I believe I was the one that made you aware of where Hermione was. If anyone is going it should be me-" Parvati replied heated.

"You can't even do a patronus," he sneered. "You're a liability in there."

"I can do a patronus!"

"With a dementor around?"

Parvati glared at him, but Harry stopped her before she could retaliate.

"We could use a person on the outside," he reasoned.

"Really?" she asked skeptically. "And how the bloody hell am I suppose to communicate with you?"

Harry fell silent. He couldn't think of any way to do that in the short time frame they were working with. "Fine," he sighed, "but we're going to stick together and get each others backs. We're not going to get separated in there. But, really, Parvati you're going to have to wear the blindfold. If we get caught and you know the secret pathway in the ministry it's even more on my head."

Parvati nodded. "Okay, but how are we even going to get in? It must be guarded by aurors."

Harry pulled a shimmering, silvery cloak out of his pocket to answer her question. She had seen one only once before as her great uncle had inherited one. All she knew was that true invisibility cloaks were extremely rare and valuable.

Harry saw her oggling and smiled. "Family heirloom," he explained. "It's going to be a bit hard with the three of us, but we'll manage." Ron scowled, obviously not liking the idea of bringing Parvati along, but bit his tongue finding no use in arguing with Harry.

A bit hard was an understatement. The three of them were crouched down uncomfortably as to keep their feet from showing, and were squished closely against each other. Add in the fact that one of their members was blinded and needed guidance with every step, and Harry was holding in a sneeze as they made there way past the auror guarding the passage, and Ron had kept _accidentally _stepping on Parvati's foot as they walked, it was a wonder how they did not get caught.

When Harry pulled the cloak off of them and took the blindfold of Parvati, she sighed in relief and took in the sight of the ministry at night. It was dark and omniscient. The water from fountain of the fountain of magical brethren, reflected eerily against the statues. The goblin looked particularly leering as they passed making Parvati shiver.

There was definitely a chill in the air, no doubt from the unwanted guests in the ministry. "Let's check her office first," Harry said quietly pocketing the invisibility cloak. "And stay close. I'm not to keen on getting caught today, if we see an auror we all need to get under the cloak fast."

They walked swiftly and quietly through the ministry and took a lift up to Hermione's floor. The chill in the air remained, but they never passed a single dementor as they finally came to the door of Hermione's department. There was definitely something wrong with the whole picture as they opened the door to the department and saw rows of nice clean desks with the exception of one that was overturned and had papers flooding the floorspace around it. The three of them felt something drop in the pit of their stomach. It was obvious as they got closer that Hermione was and had been in some sort of scruffle, it was obvious that the dementors had found the only person in the ministry and was chasing her around feeding off of her happiness, and it was obvious by the familiar looking wand on the floor dropped with the surrounding papers that she was in deep, deep trouble.

Harry carefully picked up the wand and recognized it instantly as his friend's. Parvati let out a whimper and Ron looked pale. Harry tried to keep calm, Hermione was always clever. She wouldn't get herself trapped in a corner. She would hide herself someplace confusing where there would always be room to run and she would be able to evade them until morning when she would think more people would come into the ministry.

"If you needed a place to hide in the ministry," Harry said slowly, "where even if you seemed trapped there would always be another door to turn to, where would you go?"

Ron groaned, half-amazed by Hermione's cleverness and half-exasperated by deja vu. "We're going to the Department of Mysteries, aren't we?"


	15. Chapter 15

**Another late update! I know I'm sorry :( But on a brighter note I have written ahead a bit this time so I'm hoping the next one after this will be a quick update. I know I sound like a broken record but I've been busy lately and this keeps getting pushed to the side.**

**Also thanks for the reviews it's always nice to read one and see people are enjoying it and I like criticism that is not mean, but constructive as some people have given me. I try to use it to better my story. Hopefully it has a little. **

**Please Read and review, but as a warning it's been a long, long time since I've written action I know it could be brushed up. And if you could point out any mistakes I'd appreciate it as always  
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><p>"The Department of Mysteries?" Parvati asked frowning. "What's in there?"<p>

Ron snorted. "It's a mystery."

Parvati scowled, but Harry answered. "It's the strangest department here. . . they study the mysteries of life so to speak like time, space. . ."

"Death," Ron put in after Harry hesitated.

"And frankly, some place I never wanted to step foot in again. Let's get her quick and get out of here," he said sounding edgy. He grabbed Hermione's wand and started leaving.

"What's up with him?" Parvati asked as the two of them started walking to catch up with his quick stride.

Ron chuckled. "Hermione really never told you _anything_ did she?"

Parvati felt her face grow hot with anger. Even when they were on the same side he had to act like such an arsehole. "She told me you were bad in bed," she said not caring how juvenile she sounded. "But so did Lavender, it seems to be a common complaint among women you've dated."

Ron scowled as they finally caught up to Harry and got back on the lift. A second later they were at the department and Harry felt a horrible sick feeling in his stomach. He was back where Sirius died.

Parvati noticed the pale look on his face and turned to look at Ron to see if had noticed or cared. She was surprised to see he looked a bit sick himself and that made Parvati even more nervous. _What the hell was in this department?_

They walked to the end of the corridor and found the door that Harry had long since dreamed about. "Well, let's go in."

They walked into a circular room with a bunch of different doors. Parvati let out a yelp of surprise as soon as they started swirling around them. It was easily the strangest room Parvati had ever been in- between the spinning doors, the eery lighting casting blue shadows, and the omniscient feeling like the walls were watching them Parvati could not help but hope that they found Hermione quickly and left.

Harry took out his wand and marked the door in front of them with a huge red X. "Let's just get in and out of here quickly," Harry said. "We find Hermione and high-tail it. And, remember just don't touch anything at all. Don't even brush up on it. Ready?" he asked with his hand on the door.

Ron and Parvati nodded, and he pushed on the door.

And, he pushed on the door.

"Let me try," Ron said raising his wand.

Harry shook his head. "No, there was a door last time that wouldn't open either. Look I tried to use Sirius' knife to open it- there's still that knick on it."

Ron lowered his wand, but raised it at another. "Let's go to this one," he said gesturing to the door on his right as he put a red mark on it. He pushed open the door and it opened almost eerily slow.

Parvati gawked as she walked in behind Ron and Harry. The door behind them swung to a close, and they were in a large square room with stone tiers leading down to a pit in the center. In the center was a dais which had an omniscient stone archway that hung a battered black curtain that swung lightly as if there were a breeze going through it although the air in the room was still. Without thinking, Parvati started making her way down to it as if in a trance. Harry unconsciously followed, but his fascination with the archway was more about nostalgic sorrow than anything else. Only Ron stayed firmly in his place by the door.

"Really we should get going!" Ron called loudly and impatiently as Parvati and Harry had already made it down to the dais. "Hermione's not in here. We should keep looking Harry."

Harry shook his head and scratched the back of his head, trying to keep the morbid thoughts out of his head. "C'mon Parvati we should-"

"Wait!" she said suddenly. "Do you hear that?" she asked turning around to look at Harry. "There are voices. . . coming from there," she said looking back at the archway. She took a step forward to the whispering voices. She could not distinguish the words that were being spoken, but the voices were definitely human. Unthinkingly she reached out a hand to touch the cold stone. There was definitely no one behind the archway maybe the key to seeing them had something to do with the curtain. Just as her hand was inches from it, Harry reached out and pulled her arm out of the way. She stumbled on her feet a bit from his sudden contact. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said. "We should probably get away from it."

"Can you hear it?" she asked him, taking in but not dwelling on his warning.

Harry nodded.

"What are they saying, who are they?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't know."

Parvati narrowed her eyes, her curiosity aflame. "Something happened in this room you're not telling me."

Harry sighed. "I lost someone very important to me in this room. He was cursed and fell through the archway and his body never fell through the other side."

Parvati stepped back from the stone even further with a start as if it were hot. Suddenly it was all making sense- the voices and whispering she was hearing was from the dead.

"Not everyone can hear them," Harry continued looking at Parvati strangely. "Ron was never able to and neither was Hermione."

Parvati stared at Harry sadly thinking of what being in this room must mean to him. "I'm sorry for you loss Harry."

"It was my fault he died. I was tricked into coming here," he said honestly. "Hermione had actually warned me that it might be a trick, but. . ." he shrugged. "Sometimes we do stupid things because we're worried about the people we love-"

"Oi!" Ron's voice came by the door. "Can we get a move on?"

Parvati and Harry looked at each other and started walking towards the door to Ron. Parvati was actually surprised Harry had divulged so much to her. She had expected a half-ass excuse from an explanation as it was as much as Hermione or Ron ever gave her. She was even more surpised as he continued. "You know Hermione was always the smart one," he said with a small smile. "I think she knew after first year she would have to be the level-headed, clever one if she didn't want to attend mine or Ron's funeral- that she had to think maturely for us." He kept lowering his voice as they got closer and closer to Ron as if he didn't want his best mate to overhear them. "You have to understand she never got a chance to make those stupid mistakes- she never got a chance to be an angsty teenager and ruin something perfect she had with someone for no reason at all, so she's making up for lost time." He gave her a small smile as he looked at Parvati's intrigued face. "And, don't let Ron get you down," he said in a hushed voice. "He's my best mate, but I want Hermione to be happy."

Parvati gave him a shrewd look. "You've been talking to your wife haven't you?"

"She's a smart woman," he said with an almost blissful smile. "She may have coached me on what to say."

"Well as wonderful as I'm sure your conversation is," Ron said noting their almost happy expressions with a scowl on his face as the two of them finally made their way back to him. "Hermione could be getting her soul get sucked out of her mouth by now."

Parvati gave him an almost fearful look. "Don't say that."

"What were you two talking about anyway," he said looking suspiciously at Harry.

Harry waved it off. "It's not important now," he said his voice changing to a businesslike one as his smile vanished to a concerned frown. "We've got to keep looking for her."

They walked back into the circular room and the doors danced around them again. Harry picked a door this time and with a flick of his wand marked the door they were going to go through. "Third time's the charm," he said with a grimace as he pushed the door open.

Harry recognized it immediately as the hall of prophecy. The only difference was it was far less cluttered than when he had been in it last which was mostly his fault. Probably half the prophecies had been destroyed at his last visit to the department, making it at least easier to check the contents of the room for a bushy-haired witch.

"Hermione!" Ron called through the cathedral sized room. They split up and checked each aisle making sure she had not passed out and had been left behind. Once they were sure it was empty they gathered back at the door.

"Something feels weird Harry," Ron said frowning. "We haven't seen anything."

Harry sighed. "We'll try a couple more doors and if not we'll rethink our plan."

He pushed open the door back to the circular room and the three of them walked in and immediately felt the effect. As the door slammed shut behind them and the doors swirled around them the room went cold as ten cloaked figures turned towards them. Parvati's insides went icy with fear. Suddenly she felt despair- that the dementors had already gotten Hermione and she had never gotten the chance to say she was sorry and it was all her fault because she was inadequate and couldn't be enough for her-

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry roared from in front of her. A silvery stag appeared and danced around the room pushing the dementors back away from them. Parvati landed back in reality and the gravity of the situation at hand, grateful that Harry's patronus was immensely powerful.

"C'mon!" Ron said motioning to a door to the right of them without a red mark on it. "Let's go!"

He pushed open the door, with Parvati and Harry at his heels, but when he saw what was inside he stopped and put his hands on either side of the doorway to stop them from entering. "Not the brain room," he said trying to push Parvati and Harry back.

"Ron!" Harry roared.

"What's your problem?" Parvati yelled seeing over his shoulder a room that was wonderfully dementor free. Ron stepped hardly on Parvati's foot again with the back of his heel in the confusion and Parvati began to curse wildly. That was the last straw for her. With how many times his foot seemed to have smashed hers she knew they would be swollen tomorrow and that gave her enough anger to shove him roughly in the room uncaringly. The three of them fell in the room as the door swung to a close behind them, Ron's knee hitting the floor at seemingly painful angle as Parvati and Harry landed on top of him.

"Gerroff me" Ron mumbled pushing Parvati away as he tried to get to his feet. He ended up tripping over his himself and stumbled forward hitting a green tank, with something that looked the size of large ostrich eggs swimming in it, square with his head. The green solution sloshed in it's tank at the impact and Ron srambled on his hands and knees away from it. Parvati stood up to get a better look at the tank and realized why Ron had called it the brain room moment's before. It was dimly lit like the dais room was, long and rectangular in size, with tanks with what looked like human brains in it. While she was contemplating how sick that was Harry looked to Ron and told him, "I think it's time we sent a message to the aurors. We know Hermione is missing and we know the dementors are scattered around this department. And, I have a feeling there's more than the one's we just saw."

Ron nodded looking palely at the brains in the tank. "Alright mate, if you say so." He took out his wand and said the patronus charm and a spunky looking terrier appeared.

As Ron was busy constructing the message, Harry turned to Parvati. "We have to check the other rooms which means we have to go back to the dementors. Just be prepared. Think of the happiest thing you can, okay?"

Parvati nodded and as Ron's terrier disappeared to give the message to the aurors in a streak of light, Harry turned to Ron and told him the same thing. "There could be more than before, we'll see." They all turned by the door waiting for Harry to kick it open. "Ready? Well do it on three- one, two, three!"

He kicked it open and they all bustled through wands raised and-

"They're gone," Parvati said in complete astonishment as the doors shifted around them again.

"I don't like this," Harry said uneasily as they lowered their wands. "Dementors may be foul, but they're not dumb. If they've been navigating this place they would know we have to come back to get out this way- or they would have pursued us. They can sense us even though the doors change."

"If dementors are smart," Parvati reasoned slowly, "and can sense us they would go after what's easiest. We all have our wands-"

"Hermione doesn't," Harry said realizing. "They were probably chasing her when we walked in on them! She went in a room and and the doors switched around. They were trying to sense her when we came in and disrupted them. But, we have protection when Hermione doesn't so Hermione's a much more easy target! And, she would recognize the markings on the door as her old idea- she probably knows we're here and picked a door with a marking on it hoping to run into us."

"Well, we better pick fast," Ron said noting the doors. "It's almost faded already."

"Well we got a one in third chance- actually a fifty/fifty chance- she can't get into the locked room," Parvati said.

"Alright," Harry said looking at the doors. There were two marked doors to the left of them side-by-side and one behind them. "Let's start with-"

But, Parvati with her wand drawn already started towards the two to her left and picking the one closest motioned for Ron and Harry to follow her as she pushed it open and the trio entered the dais room for the second time- the only difference being it was crowded by twenty dementors surrounding a collapsed body near the archway. The three stood in shock by the sheer number of dementors that were actually in the department and because one dementor in particular was holding Hermione roughly, putting his hooded head down to her mouth as if getting ready to. . .

"NOOOOO!" Ron yelled and he started running towards the dais ignoring the throngs of dementors. Parvati stood frozen in shock and coldness by the twenty or so dementors in the room. They all seemed to turn to Ron as he ran obliviously by them.

"Ron!" Harry roared. "Damn it- expecto patronum!" A slivery stag erupted from his wand paving a way for Ron's mad dash and effectively catching the dementor's attention. They started swarming and obscuring the view of the dais leaving Parvati to wonder what was happening to Hermione.

Although she was still fearful for her ex-lover's fate, Parvati could feel warmth and hope pass her as the stag glided by and knew this was the best chance she had to produce her own patronus. She could not lose her head like Ron even though her body was screaming to get as physically close to Hermione as she could right now as if that would somehow save her. She had to stay calm to help Harry's patronus.

She concentrated on Hermione- on the very first night they had spent together- on the memory of being almost deliriously happy that the gryffindor bookworm had taken such an interest in her and yelled, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

She knew it would work before she said it. There was too much on the line- this wasn't some practice D.A. spell and this wasn't something she could make up for later. This was a moment to make everything better. Everything counted on this- Hermione counted on this.

A silvery tiger erupted and covered their backs as Harry and Parvati tore after Ron down to where Hermione was. "We have to get them to make the dementors leave through the door," Harry yelled looking impressed at Parvati's patronus.

"How do we do that?" Parvati yelled back, but the patronus' seemed to be listening because the two of them began working together to round them up. Parvati stopped to admire their work and even Harry stood gawking. He would have never guessed Parvati could produce a patronus that could rival his own.

"Hermione!" Ron yelled. Parvati turned around and saw that Ron had made it to the dais. He knelt down and ever carefully lifted her head up with a frantic look on his face.

Parvati forgot about the dementors and ran to the dais. She stopped a few steps away in shock. Hermione looked terrible- her skin was unusually pale, her hair was matted tangled, and her body looked skinnier than she had ever seen her.

"Is she-," Harry asked right behind Parvati.

"She's still breathing," Ron answered quickly. His whole body was shaking as he held her, making it look as if she were twitching.

"I meant is she- is she still whole?" Harry said quietly. He was inquiring about the dementor's kiss and Parvati knew it. They had seen it- it was about to happen before they burst into the room. Parvati fell to her knees in fear, and something like a dry sob started escaping her. _Maybe she was too late. . ._

"HARRY!" Someone yelled bursting into the room. A group of aurors bustled in the room. The patronus of the stag and tiger were gone along with all the dementors. Parvati did not know when all of that happened- time seemed to be moving at a strange pace for her. Meanwhile, Harry ran back to the entrance to see the aurors while Ron was trying to nudge Hermione awake. He looked like he was about to burst into sobs when Parvati got the idea. She removed the remaining distance between her and Hermione and pointed her wand at her, "Aguamenti!"

A jet of water erupted from the tip of her wand and splashed a generous amount on Hermione's face. The effect was almost instantaneous- Hermione started roughly choking and Parvati almost let out a sigh of relief.

"Hermione," Ron said holding her. "Oh Merlin."

"Ron," she choked and smiled up at him. "I knew you'd find me." She had tears clinging to the corners of her eyes perhaps from coughing, probably from relief. Her last seconds of consciousness were probably terrifying. "You look well."

Parvati felt like she was punched in the stomach. The look she was giving him. . . it was the look she should be getting- there was too much care and attention to it. As if Ron was single-handedly her Hero while Parvati was a third-rate sidekick.

Ron smiled back at her. "Harry's here too-" he started to tell her, but was interrupted by someone else catching the corner of Hermione's eye.

"Parvati?"

Parvati looked back at Hermione's face- a face of wonder and confusion. Mostly though, Parvati felt like it was saying, _what the hell are you doing here?_

Parvati looked back at her somberly finding it hard to look back in her eyes when two emergency healers bounded up towards them and pushed her out of the way. Parvati moved away looking dejected as they had to force Ron to let her go. However, as they were pulling Ron away, Hermione's eyes never left Parvati and neither her expression as if she could not believe Parvati was there. However, her eyes finally slumped to a close as the healers gave her something to make her go into an instant sleep and Ron was finally pulled away with the help of some aurors now trying to help him calm down.

_This fucking figures_, she thought looking away from the scene. _It figures that I would be the one to know she was in danger, be the one that found her last minute, and be the one that saved her while Ron got all the credit. Ron, _she fumed angrily, _how could she look at him like that- like she counted on him so much. . ._

It was not fair. This much Parvati knew for certain. It was not fair that she fell in love with someone that turned to someone else for help. It was not fair that the someone else did absolutely nothing in aiding her. Parvati knew her and Harry would have been fine on their own. All Ron had done was step on her foot and make snide or rude comments. . .

Parvati pulled herself to her feet and wrapped her arms around herself. Although the dementors were probably long gone she felt chilled and slightly depressed as if they had left part of themselves in the air as the patronuses chased them away. She shivered and stared at the stone archway still hearing the whispers around it as if calling her. Or maybe her own morbid thoughts were prompting her to imagine it.

"You saved her, you know," Harry said putting a hand on her shoulder.

Parvati jumped a little, she hadn't known Harry was behind her thinking he was still talking to many of the aurors.

She sniffed a little. "It would have been my fault if I hadn't."

Harry shook his head and moved by her side. "No, it wouldn't have been your fault." He paused for a minute before continuing. "You know that was one of the best patronuses I've ever seen."

Parvati knew it was a genuine compliment by the awe in his voice, but it did nothing to make her feel better. "It had to be."

Parvati watched as the healers put Hermione on a stretcher magically lifted by itself. Her mouth was slightly open while her body was limp, and it oddly reminded her of when she saw Lavender getting pulled out after the war when she was still unaware of how much damage Greyback had done to her. She had not known whether her best friend was going to make it, and although Parvati knew that Hermione would be physically okay it was something else that made Parvati wonder if Hermione was actually going to be fine.


	16. Chapter 16

**Again thank you, thank you, thank you for the reviews and those who have favorited or signed up for story updates. It's very much appreciated and you guys are awesome. **

**Disclaimer: As always I own absolutely nothing. Although I must say I've given much more care and attention to Parvati than Rowling ever did so I think I should own her. . .**

**Enjoy and please review. Feel free to point out any heinous grammar mistakes if you see them, I'm happy to fix them.  
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><p>When Hermione awoke, she was groggy to say the least. Her head was no longer pounding, but her body ached and felt spent. Her night in the ministry was to thank for that. She lifted her head expecting to see the wide open ward she had woken up in before, but was surprised to see herself in a small, private room and figured they must have moved her when she was out. However, she recognized the setting as St. Mungo's as well as the nurse who was in the corner that worked there, but who was probably not there to nurse her. She was wearing muggle clothing and looked extremely tired, but looked hesitant as Hermione's eyes finally rested on her.<p>

"Hi," Hermione croaked feeling her mouth go dry.

"Hi," Parvati said back.

"Umm," Hermione scratched the back of her head not really knowing how to continue. The expression on Parvati's face was a little unnerving. She looked relieved, unsure, and angry all the same time and it was furrowing her eyebrows in the most dangerous way.

"Are you okay?" Parvati asked. Her voice was almost like her expression- there was definite concern there, but enough scorn that told Hermione she better choose her words carefully.

"I'm feeling better," Hermione hesitated. "How are you?"

Parvati shrugged and sunk back into her seat in a somewhat relaxed state. "More or less. . ." she answered almost uncaringly.

"How long was I out?" she asked rubbing her head.

Parvati gave her a sympathetic look. "About two days. . . you were out when we brought you here, but you woke up screaming not long after. They gave you some stuff to help you have a dreamless sleep."

"I remember being in a different room."

"They thought it might be better to put you in a separate sound-proof room in case they didn't make the potion strong enough and you had nightmares again."

Hermione slumped back into her pillow and stared at the ceiling. "I can't believe I've been sleeping for two days."

"Well," Parvati said almost curtly, "according to your coworkers it sounded like you needed two days rest."

"I just had some trouble sleeping and work helped me," Hermione reasoned not at all liking being scolded like a child.

Parvati snorted, but Hermione chose to ignore the rude gesture.

"So have you been here the whole time?" she asked her.

Parvati looked almost haughty as she answered. "No, I haven't. You've had other people walking in on you too like shifts. Harry stopped by for a few hours, Ginny, Mrs. Weasley," she hesitated, but then said in a rather funny voice, "_Ron_."

"Oh," she blushed. "It's actually been quite a while since I've seen him."

Parvati gave Hermione a glare that made it seem as if she were ready to explode, but her voice remained even, albeit a bit cold. "You saw him the other night in the department of mysteries- you told him he looked well."

"Well, you look-" Hermione stopped and ventured to look up at Parvati's face and into her eyes which seemed to look piercingly back at her. "Good," she decided, but immediately regretted the choice as Parvati rolled her eyes and folded her arms in an annoyed way. "Beautiful!" Hermione blurted out correcting herself immediately. "You always look beautiful," Hermione said miserably more to herself than to the Indian witch.

"Beautiful?" Parvati asked incredulously in a harsh tone. "I look fucking beautiful, is that why you left me?"

Hermione gulped. She had just woken up and she didn't think she would be getting into this so soon.

Parvati watched Hermione's mouth gape open for a minute as if bobbing for words until the bushy-haired bookworm finally blurted out, "No, of course not! I- I didn't want to leave you- I didn't actually! It was you who left-"

"Fine, let me rephrase that," she replied harshly to her haphazard explanation. "How could you ask me to leave me?" Parvati yelled ignoring the fact that screaming at a woman who was out for two days after almost getting her soul sucked out through her mouth was a terrible thing to do. "I wanted to give everything to you- I tried to be sweet and understanding! When I have not been?"

"Parvati please!" Hermione begged, not even knowing what she was begging for.

"No Hermione! Believe me I know how it's supposed to go- you nearly die and now I'm supposed to make up with you and it's supposed to be all rainbows and pygmy-puffs, and I was going to play it that way. That night when you were in the ministry. . . I went to your apartment and it was my intention to get you back. All I wanted was you and I would have apologized and begged through my teeth until you were mine again, but now. . ." Parvati shook her head and sank back in the chair suddenly looking very young and frail.

"Out of all the people at Hogwarts, if someone had told me it was you who was going to break my heart," Parvati chuckled harshly opening her eyes to look at her. "I would have laughed my arse off." She shook her head as if ashamed of something, and concentrated on the window as if she found something particularly interesting there.

"Parvati, I'm sorry," Hermione said trying to keep her voice even, wondering what had changed in her feelings for her in the past two days that would make Parvati want to yell at her instead of make up with her as she just confessed she had intended. "I wish I never said those things. I never meant to hurt you or-"

"Never meant to hurt me?" Parvati practically roared. "What did you expect to happen Hermione? You keep these secrets between you and Ron and Harry and expect everyone else in your life to just turn a blind eye to them? Oh, but it's okay for Harry to tell Ginny-"

"That's different!" Hermione protested.

"Why? Because you all love Ginny, but you don't love me or because you trust Ginny and you don't trust me?"

"Parvati it's not like that-"

"Hermione," Parvati said sounding exasperated. "It's exactly like that. . . Don't you see you don't trust me. You don't even act like you love me. . . and I- I don't think I should really love you."

Hermione felt her stomach drop. "What?" she asked weakly.

Parvati gave her a sad look and continued slowly as if she had deeply considered what she was about to say for a while, and even though it hurt she was determined to say it. "I'm a good fuck when you want one Hermione," she said softly. "I'm a distraction you keep to get away from these memories you won't share with me. I'm a vacation from reality. Have I ever been anything else?"

"Of course you are." Hermione never felt so un-eloquent. She had never felt such a loss of words from what she was feeling. She wanted to tell her everything she was feeling, needing, and wanting right at that moment. And, what she was feeling was- "I love you," she blurted out.

Parvati sighed, and Hermione felt her stomach drop. "Why, Hermione? And don't tell me it's because I'm beautiful, because, quite frankly, I'm sick of hearing that from you."

Hermione gapped at her and Parvati laughed ruefully. "You don't love me Hermione. You don't confide me in like you love me, you don't trust me, you don't even look at me that way. _I _was the one that figured out you were in the ministry. I just needed Harry and Ron's help on the way to get in. Yet, when you woke up and Ron was holding you, you looked at him like- like you loved him Hermione. And you told him that you always knew he was going to come, and then you see me out of the corner of your eye and give me a look like you didn't know what the fuck I was doing there. Quite frankly, I don't know what I'm doing here now. . ."

"So," Hermione said realizing what exactly had changed her mind. But, instead of feelings sad, remorseful, or regretful she was rapidly becoming angry back. "I was a mistake then? A waste of time?"

Parvati stood up and walked up to the side of Hermione's bed. She sat on the edge with her arms folded and only slightly turned to her ex-lover. She did not look at her as she answered, "I can't decide."

"Can't decide?" Hermione asked tensing. Now it was her turn to be angry. "You want to know some secrets? You want to know some goddamn secrets?" she roared her hands balled up in fists. Parvati looked at her in astonishment, her mouth slightly open. "Here's a secret for you- Ron's rat was actually an anigmus that betrayed Harry's parents and got them killed! Want another one? A runty giant nicknamed me Hermy, I used a time-turner to help an escaped convict, I've accidentally poly-juiced into a cat-girl, I sent my parents halfway across the world during the war so they wouldn't be discovered and killed because of me! I wiped their memory of me so they never remembered they had a daughter and even though I've restored it afterwards they don't trust me. I've scared the shit out of them Parvati-" she started sobbing uncontrollably, burying her face in her hands while Parvati looked at her in even more sheer surprise. In fact, she looked almost terrified at Hermione's meltdown. "I know what you were thinking when we visited them that one time- that I was acting odd because I was ashamed of you, but it wasn't you! I act that way around them all the time. I don't think they even want me to visit them Vati- they're just scared to say no when I ask!"

"Shit Hermione," Parvati said looking at Hermione like she didn't quite know what to say or do. Parvati bit her lip and then pulled Hermione's shaking shoulders into an awkward hug. "It's okay, your parents still love you. . . "

"Why? Why would they?" Hermione practically screamed in such a high-pitched voice that Parvati opened her eyes and moved her head away from Hermione's to take a good look at her. Even though she had used such a nasty tone, her face betrayed her. Hermione looked fragile and small in Parvati's arms. Her eyes were sparkling and here lips and nose were red from crying. She held Parvati's waist timidly but had a much stronger hold on the fabric of her shirt as if she would tug and be relentless to let go if Parvati tried to leave. "Well?" Hermione demanded, and Parvati could not help but let out a small sad smile at how Hermione sounded like a pouting teenager.

"Love isn't just something that comes and goes, Hermione. It's something that stays," Parvati said quietly running her fingertips through the bookworm's hair. She didn't know what she was doing. She did not know what the fuck was happening. A minute ago she was yelling at her hoarse and telling her she was done with this. . . and now. . . she felt like a hypocrite. She could not help but notice the irony in her words.

"It's just not how I imagined my life being," Hermione choked her voice straining. She moved her grip from the fabric of Parvati's shirt to around her waist. Parvati's stomach dropped at the touch- a mixture of sadness, guilt, anger and grief. "I never asked to be a witch. I was going to go to graduate early and go to some expensive high-end university," Hermione continued more than herself than to Parvati. "I was going to be a researcher or a doctor- you know something very professional, and then I got my Hogwarts letter and everything changed. I was excited, but I mean look what I've gotten myself into. . . I don't regret it, but it's not the life I've wanted. There's too much pain. I- I don't know how to deal with this anymore."

"You really need to get help Hermione," Parvati said quietly running her fingers through her hair soothingly. "Really."

This was not the way Parvati had planned it. She did not plan on comforting her after all that happened between them. But, although Parvati was still angry, a feeling of sympathy outweighed it and dulled the need to continue yelling at her. Perhaps she knew she had been through enough already, and did not need someone continuing to point out her faults in a relationship when she was already moping over her faults in life.

"You know you were right what you said," Hermione continued after a long silence. She sniffed. "I treated you like a vacation, but I never thought of you as one. I loved making love to you, and I enjoyed every minute of it, but that's not why I enjoyed being around you so much. You just always seemed so happy Vati, and I loved how happy you were. You didn't act broken after the war like other people did. You were still happy like you were before the war and I thought that if I had you I would become happy too- that I could salvage something of that old ideal of the life I wanted. I guess it's selfish. . . I thought you could teach it to me. . . give it to me if I had you."

"Hermione," Parvati said sadly, but tried to make her laugh all the same. "Happiness isn't like some std you can catch. . ."

Hermione sniffed and let out a chuckle. She looked up at Parvati and the two shared a long look. "It's silly looking back on it, I know. I'm sorry."

Parvati hesitated before she shook her head. "You don't have to say you're sorry," she decided. "It's not like our relationship was built on commitment and long meaningful discussions- it started with a one night stand. . . well it was supposed to be anyway. I think a little selfishness was involved on both sides." She let out bitter laugh.

Hermione let out a teary smile as she confessed. "I was so happy that night, I was sure my theory had been right."

Parvati couldn't help but snort. "That happiness was an std?"

She locked eyes with her former lover and could not deny the feelings that stirred inside her as she looked at the bushy-haired witch. Hermione, Parvati knew whether they ever got back together or not, would always be special. She removed her hand from her hair and brushed off her tear-stained cheek with her thumb. She was unaware that her next words would make her rethink their entire relationship and whether they should get back together, not because what she said was mean or cruel, but because Hermione had actually depended on her much more than she ever thought.

"No, that _you_ could make me happy."

x x x

Parvati left St. Mungo's an hour later when Molly came by to look after Hermione. Mrs. Weasley was surprised and happy to see Hermione had finally woken up, but angry to discover that Parvati had not owled her or anyone else right away. Parvati, however, hardly cared. She knew Mrs. Weasley would never be a fan of hers. As Ginny had told her Mrs. Weasley had always figured Hermione would work things out with Ron, and Parvati was a sore thumb in that ever happening.

In that last hour together after Hermione had stopped crying and Parvati helped her clean up- Parvati finally called the healer in. Something, she realized, she should have done right away even though Parvati always knew she would be physically fine. After the healer told her to take it easy and left the room Hermione had tried to get them to talk about a future together, but Parvati had skirted past her questions. Now more than ever she knew Hermione needed to get better before she started making decisions or becoming distressed at the outcome. So, Parvati promised to stay by her side until she recovered from her exhaustion and her night at the ministry to ease her worrying for the time being, and then they would talk about their relationship. Although the more Parvati thought about it the more she was unsure if Hermione was ready to be in a relationship with anyone before she worked out the kinks in her personal issues. Kinks that required professional help and time to heal alone. And, when Parvati kissed Hermione on the forehead after saying good-bye she sensed that Hermione knew what she was thinking because she grabbed the Indian witch's hand and gave her a knowing look. A look that seemed to promise she would be okay if Parvati left her and she would take care of herself this time. A look that seemed to apologize for a lot of things, some not entirely her fault.

When Parvati left the room she was oddly calm. She maintained her cool until she had apparated back to her apartment and stood at the threshold of her bedroom and that was when she started to break down. She allowed herself to realize that in a week when Hermione was recovered she would have to start recovering from something else. Something that was much more difficult that she would have to start on her own. And, as much as Parvati wanted to stay, despite all the heartache she had been through because of her, she knew that it would be better for Hermione if she took the journey alone.


	17. Chapter 17

**Well another chapter up, really I'm kinda surprised with myself I never thought I'd go past 15 chapters with this. Again thank you for everyone who has favorited, or signed up for updates, or reviewed (my personal favorite thing to see). I do try to take the reviews I get and make the story better and it's always nice to hear someone really likes the story. It pumps me up to write another chapter. Anyway please read and review! **

**Also I own nothing and if there are any mistakes if you want to point them out I'll try and fix them. I've read it over a few times but I can't catch everything.  
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><p>Hermione knocked on the door to the Weasley home which was promptly opened by Mrs. Weasley. It was a week after her hospitalization and she could almost feel her body slumping back into the old routine of work and errands, but before she could allow herself to do those things there was something else she needed to take care of first.<p>

"Oh Hermione!" she exclaimed a little surprised. She wiped her hands on her apron and Hermione could tell from the flour that floated around the kitchen and the assortment of bowls and utensils levitating magically around behind her that she was in the middle of baking.

"Hi Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said nervously. "I was just wondering if Ron was here."

"Oh he's out back," Mrs. Weasley said. "Are you alone?"

Hermione knew this question more thickly inquired about Parvati than anyone else. "Just me," Hermione said with a small smile.

"Oh great," Mrs. Weasley warmly. "Come in, come in."

As Mrs. Weasley turned her back to her, Hermione grimaced. Obviously, Mrs. Weasley was thinking she had come over to patch things up with Ron. Which was true, but not in the way Mrs. Weasley was thinking.

"He's just out back there. He was de-gnoming the garden earlier," she said leading her towards the back door.

"Thanks Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said walking towards the door and pulling it open.

Ron stood learning over the old fence with his back turned to Hermione. Hermione walked over to him noticing several gnomes running around as she did so clueing her in that Ron had not been doing as much de-gnoming as thinking.

When she got over to him, she stood next to him and leaned her forearms against the fence mimicking him. Neither of them talked for a minute, until Hermione finally said, "Thank you."

Ron snorted disdainfully finally looking at her. "For what, Hermione? For acting like I hated you, for making you choose over your girlfriend and a friend, or for being the reason you broke up with Parvati in the first place?"

"You didn't make me break up with-"

"I did!" Ron interjected looking away. "I always ruin relationships for you Hermione. I'm no good. I made it difficult for you to be with Krum years ago and I made it difficult for you to be with Parvati now, all because I'm jealous. You just needed someone to support you and I never did. . . I'm a git Hermione."

Hermione grabbed Ron's arm, who painfully looked into the eyes of the girl he loved but could never have. "You're my best friend Ron. Sometimes best friend's treat each other like crap. Sometimes best friends make fun of the other one so they cry in the girl's bathroom when a mountain troll is on the loose, and sometimes best friends throw up slugs all day because some git called her a mudblood."

Ron looked down and smiled sadly. "You give me more credit than I'm worth."

"I don't give you enough credit," Hermione said frowning. "If I did I would have told you about Parvati earlier."

"I," Ron started like he was swallowing something particularly distasteful. "I like her."

Hermione laughed shaking her head. "No, you don't have to say that."

"No she's not bad," Ron admitted. "I mean if you go for the whole ditzy, cute thing. . ."

"Ron, she's more than that," Hermione said in a testing tone.

Ron didn't say anything but raised his eyebrows teasingly.

"Well what's wrong with the whole ditzy, cute thing?" Hermione wanted to know.

"Nothing," Ron said smiling. "I guess I always had a thing for the smart ones."

"She's smart too-"

"I mean the smart that reads textbooks for fun and is annoyingly, but always conveniently knowledgable on the most random things," Ron said, raising his hand to a strand of hair across Hermione's face and tucking it behind her ear.

Hermione blushed. "Those girls seem like they're gonna be hard to find."

"They're rare," Ron said sighing. "But are completely worth waiting for."

Hermione looked away awkwardly. "You know I. . . I really like women."

"I know, Parvati told me to stay away if I was going to try and be more than a friend," Ron said rolling his eyes. "And, then she took that back and advised me if I wanted to be more than a friend to act more like a friend first."

Hermione gave him a shocked look. "She said that?"

"At the hospital one day, we had both come to see you at the same time. Then she lectured me and we argued. . . it was hard to be around her with the way she was talking about you."

"How was she talking about me?" Hermione asked curiously.

Ron slouched back on the fence looking at the sun creep behind the thicket of trees. "Like she loved you," he said simply.

Hermione didn't say anything but looked toward the falling sun also.

"Anyway," Ron said sighing. "Parvati's got a twin doesn't she? A ravenclaw bookworm right?" He watched Hermione smile wondering where this was going. "Maybe I could start dating her and then who knows maybe we could have a foursome one day-"

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed shocked. It sounded like something that would come out of one of the twins, but not Ron.

"Only a suggestion- I'm sorry!" he conceded defeat as he was assaulted by multiple punches to the arm.

Ron continued laughing as Hermione folded her arms clearly disgruntled by the unwanted mental image, but somewhat pleased to see Ron was taking what must have been a huge blow somewhat light-hearted.

"Come on though, Parvati has a twin. You can't tell me you've never considered a three-" Ron cut himself short as he saw the glare Hermione was giving him. "I'm just gonna stop now," Ron said holding his hands up in defeat.

"Smart move."

Neither of them said anything for awhile. They could hear an owl hooting in the distance. Hermione considered telling him her fears about Parvati. The fear that shot through her every time she looked in Parvati eyes and saw confusion. Hermione was almost certain her time with Parvati was running dry and it was too late to salvage it.

After a long silent moment, while both of them were considering different things, Ron asked the question he was inevitable to ask. "This is the last time we're going to talk about this aren't we?"

Hermione did not have to ask to know what he meant. She knew he meant the possibility of them having a relationship or Hermione listening to Ron say he had feelings for her. After today they would not talk about it anymore whether Ron's feelings for her stayed for years or ended tomorrow.

"Yeah, Ron it is."

Ron swallowed hard like he was comprehending something. "Can I tell you something I always wanted to tell you, but for some reason never did?"

Hermione nodded.

Ron looked at her with a small, sad smile on his face. "The first time I knew I loved you was when you punched Draco Malfoy in the face."

Hermione burst out laughing and Ron let out a couple of light laughs himself. "It's completely true," he promised.

"I remember that," Hermione said still smiling widely. "I don't know what came over me."

"Was there anything I could have done," Ron asked changing the subject to a more serious one, "that would have made you choose me over Parvati. Be honest, Hermione. Please."

Hermione thought about it for a minute and then answered truthfully, "No."

Ron nodded and looked away for a moment. For a minute Hermione thought he was going to argue, or complain, or lose his head. In fact she had been surprised with their whole conversation- Ron never took these things so well. She wondered if Harry had talked to him, or rather, Ginny had told Harry to talk to him. Ron was taking this eerily well even if there was slight disdain in his voice. "I know you're happy with her. I hope everything works out for you two," he sighed sounding defeated and Hermione felt her stomach drop, "But at the same time I hope it really doesn't. I still want to be your friend though, if that makes sense."

"You're my best friend, Ron. You always will be." Again she held back her fears that her and Parvati would not last. Right now she was putting the effort into fixing things with Ron, and her thoughts on Parvati would have to wait.

"Alright. . . I'm gonna need some time though. If I stick around too much now I'm gonna sabotage everything like before. I mean I want to be there for you Hermione, I want to be your best mate, but you have to understand I just lost. . ." he trailed off not knowing what to say.

Hermione felt her eyes water, and nodded slightly signaling that she understood. Ron noticed and gave her a sad smile feeling his own eyes water a little bit themselves. He got a little closer to Hermione and gave her a warm hug. She hugged him back wondering if things would ever be simple between them again.

Suddenly they heard an abnormal growling and squealing coming from the ground. Hermione jumped startled which caused Ron to laugh.

"That's just the garden gnomes," Ron said pointing to the two ugly things on the ground. They were rolling around smacking each other with little fists. "Have you ever de-gnomed a garden before?"

Hermione shook her head. "I've seen you do it, but I've never done it."

"Harry use to get a kick out of it," Ron smiled remembering. "Too bad he's not here now, I could use his help. I told Mum I would do it for her but I got outside and well I just didn't do it too much. Do you want to help me?"

"Sure," Hermione said although she could remember not liking the method the Weasley's used to de-gnome their garden. Even though the method was apparently effective she still found it slightly barbaric.

"Alright, hopefully you're better at this than skipping stones," he said grabbing the two squealing gnomes and started swinging them around by their ears.

x x x

Parvati gave her sister a long hug. "Thanks for staying," she told her as she hugged her tighter. It was nice to know that over the years they had never grown apart, and nicer to know that they had never felt the need to.

Padma squeezed her back. "What are sister's for anyway?"

Lavender let out a long exaggerated sniff in the doorway. "Moments like these make me wish I had a sister. . . but then I remember I'm the only recipient in my parent's will and then I don't."

The twins rolled their eyes and detangled themselves from their hug. "Really, Lav? Do you insist on ruining every tender sisterly moment?" Padma asked raising an eyebrow.

"She just feels left out," Parvati said with a grin. "But we all know that we would be happy to call you a sister if we got a part in your parent's will Lav."

"Ha ha," Lavender said sarcastically, but she went up to give Padma a long hug anyway. The Patil twins were, after all, the closest thing she had to siblings.

"I'm assuming your coming back for Christmas right?" Parvati asked as Padma grabbed her bags and grabbed some floo powder.

"What and miss our Uncle down a bottle of fire whiskey and tell the story about the banshee werewolf monk he's been telling us since we was five? Of course not, Vati."

Parvati sighed. "It lost it's appeal when we turned about twelve."

"Or ten," Padma smiled. "But I should get going."

Parvati nodded and with one more quick hug and a kiss on the cheek, Padma went into the fireplace and threw the flew powder at her feet. Parvati and Lavender waved until the flames took her away back to India and her research team.

Parvati sighed. "Remember when life was simple," she said taking a seat on her couch. "And when Padma came to visit us all she had to do was get my gryffindor tie and the password?"

"The good ole' days," Lavender remembered fondly. "We also had to make sure Hermione was going to be gone though."

"Yeah she was a goody-two shoes wasn't she?" Parvati said remembering fondly.

Lavender snorted. "She was a bit worse than that. . . You never said what was up with you two," Lavender hedged slowly, taking a seat next to her.

Parvati shrugged. "Well she's barely getting over her ordeal at the ministry. . . we haven't really talked about it yet."

"Oh."

Parvati noticed the apprehensive look Lavender was giving her like she was dying to say something. "What?" she asked her.

"I don't understand what the fuck you guys are doing not talking about it yet.'"

"Lav," Parvati stared at her open-mouthed. "It just didn't seem important before Hermione got better-"

"Not important?" Lavender asked critically. "You mope around for weeks unsure about how you feel about her, then you decide you do, then you risk your life saving her and now it's not important? Or how about Hermione lousing around not taking care of herself and becoming a zombie just because she wasn't with you. I mean come on Vati, don't be so daft, it's the most important thing."

Parvati did not say anything, but sat down on the couch and buried her face in her hands. "I'm just not sure. . . I don't know what to do." Yes, the fear of finally dealing with this was surfacing. She knew it was only so long that she could push it back before they inevitably had to face the reality.

"What do you want to do?" Lavender's question was one that had echoed through her head since the night at ministry, one that she had consciously been pushing to the corner of her mind.

"I want her to be happy, and for me to be happy- I want us both to be happy. . ."

"But what?" Lavender hedged.

Parvati dropped her hands and gave her a pitiful look. "She's so messed up Lav. She has so many issues. . ."

Her best friend sighed and took a seat next to her. "You haven't talked about this at all?" she asked weakly. "You two have no idea where the other one stands."

"I don't want to leave her, but I feel it might be better for her if I do," Parvati hesitated and continued. "She relies on me too much. I think she depends on me to be happy and she shouldn't. Not because I don't want to make her happy, but because she deserves a life where her happiness isn't contingent with me being there."

"Well it's a good way to start off," Lavender said scratching her head thoughtfully. "Then what would you tell her."

Parvati let out a bitter laugh. "Oh we're role-playing now?"

Lavender gave her a disgruntled expression with a close likeness of an annoyed Hermione doing her schoolwork while the common room was noisy. "If you had read _anything_ your sister gave you about muggle therapy like she told you, you would know that role-playing does have it's benefits."

Parvati snorted at Hermione's impression. "Well, obviously someone's been practicing. But, I have read some of it. . ."

After Parvati had come home the day Hermione had awoken, once she was past blundering and crying, she asked her sister what she knew about therapy. It was hardly mentioned at Hogwarts and some professors certainly showed some disdain towards it, but Padma (being Padma) had done her own research on it. It was slowly becoming an integral part of wizarding medicine despite all the skepticism, and was being introduced in small doses to wizards who have had traumatizing experiences. A big drawback was some wizards being unwilling to draw upon muggle experiments and procedures, when it was all too clear that muggles have been at psychology a lot longer.

"I think she needs some kind of therapy similar to how the muggles do it, but it's going to take some time. It could take years if it ever gets better," Parvati said with a small frown. "At least that's what most of it seemed to suggest." She looked up to see Lavender's face edging her on and continued. "I want her to get better and be okay, but I. . . I-"

"You can just say it. It's okay," Lavender said gently.

"I can't wait," Parvati said sounding defeated. She knew it was true. In her head she saw two choices. In one scenario she stayed with Hermione and years later they'd be together and stronger for it. She could almost picture themselves snuggling on a couch in their living room just talking and laughing. She could _almost_ picture it, but there was something off about the daydream as if it were all too simplistic and easy to not feel squeamish when fantasizing about it. Her other choice she saw was easier to think about even though it was slightly depressing. She could see herself in an apartment with a faceless lover off to the side, when she picks up the prophet or some magazine to see a picture that Hermione is in- whether it be for her career accomplishments or some social function with Harry and Ron- and she would just stare at it and feel things. She would feel nostalgic and sad, happy and bittersweet about the whole thing. But, she would smile to herself and realize she was happy to have known her and had her for that short while. She knew that second scenario seemed more probable and real, but that did not make it any easier. "I'm a terrible person-"

"You're not-"

"I told her I loved her-"

"A little prematurely-"

"I made it sound like I would always be there for her and now I'm lying. I can't leave her just because it's getting hard," Parvati said quickly. "I should stick it through and-"

"Vati!" Lavender said loudly stopping her. Parvati gave her a startled look and felt her best friend's hand curl around her own. "You're nineteen," she whispered tenderly.

Parvati shook her head. "But-"

Lavender shook her head curtly cutting her off and started in a business-like tone with the smallest lace of empathy. "You are nineteen years old Parvati Patil. You have dated Hermione for a grand total of five months. You both are young and are acting like you are not capable of loving anyone else and that's a load of hippogriff shit. Here's the deal Parvati- you loved her and she probably loves you back, but it's not healthy. It's not healthy for Hermione to invest so much in you because she thinks you're a cure to her issues and it's not healthy for you to stick around because you'll feel guilty for walking off. I'm not the only one that thinks this- your sister does too. She told me the conversation you had with Hermione when she woke up and quite frankly I don't think this relationship is good for either of you. You told Padma that night that you knew it was best for Hermione if she worked through this alone, and you said it again just before in a wishy-washy way-"

"So Padma just told you everything," Parvati said scowling, retracting her hand from her friends touch.

Lavender, however, was not much offended. She had been expecting resistance. "She told me as much as I needed to know. I live with you Parvati and you're my best friend. Don't you think I should know?"

"Why didn't Padma just tell me herself then?" Parvati asked still sore ignoring Lavender's very good point.

"Because it would have been to easy for you to pretend to listen to her advice one day when you knew she was going to be leaving the next. I, however, am not going on any long-distance trips anytime soon and would be happy to remind you every time I see you that you need to let Hermione go. . . I'm not forcing you- I'm supporting you."

Lavender placed her hand on her friend's for a second time and this time Parvati let it stay there as she soaked in what her best mate was telling her. "You know. . . You know for a second there I thought it was going to all work out. When I had just rescued her from the dementors and she was waking up- just for that second- I was so certain that we were going to fix everything. That I had saved her and all our problems were going to magically resolve themselves because she was almost gone and then she wasn't. . ."

"She's lucky you were there."

"She's lucky she taught me to do a patronus."

There was a pause where both friends sat on the couch lost in thought.

"Do you think she'll hate me?" Parvati asked quietly. "For leaving her?"

"I think she'll understand someday," Lavender answered after a moment. She hesitated before continuing. "At first though, maybe she won't be so happy with you."

Parvati grimaced. "I'll tell her soon," she resolved. "I'll owl her tomorrow telling her it's important we talk and invite her to lunch on Saturday. . . she'll have a few days to know it's coming if she doesn't already." She tried to keep her voice all business, but her eyes betrayed her and her best friend noticed.

Lavender grimaced. Suddenly her self-assured nature was gone, and she looked at Parvati in a mixture of pity and sadness. "I'm really sorry. I know you cared about her."

Parvati felt her heart sink and a familiar, yet unwanted feeling returned. It had a been a while since she had her heart broken. Even when Hermione had told her to leave she almost instinctively guessed it was not the end, but this, this was. Her gut told her so. She would go a long time without seeing her and when she did finally see her again Hermione would not be hers to take. "I don't know what to say her when I break up with her. This isn't some guy or girl I had a fling with and did not care about- I want her to know that."

"Why don't you tell her what you've told me and Padma," Lavender reasoned thoughtfully. "You're actually very well spoken. Not everyone is so eloquent as you."

Parvati sighed. "I just don't know how to say it because Hermione will know it's coming. . . I think she's figured it out by now and she's just waiting. She won't end it so she's just waiting for me to. I don't know how she'll react when it actually goes down though."

"Hermione's the smartest witch I know. She knows the reasons behind you're leaving and even if she won't admit it to you now, she does know that you care about her Parvati."

"I hope so."

The room fell silent save for the ticking of the clock that Parvati was growing annoyed with as the moment wore on. Time, she felt, was not her greatest friend at the moment. Each tick seemed to be stressing how close it was for Parvati to end things with Hermione- how close it was for her to do something she did not want but knew she had to do.

Lavender sighed breaking the quite and reminding Parvati of where she was. "When did life get so complicated, anyway? It was a lot more simpler when you all you waned to do was bang Alicia Spinnet."

"I remember that," Parvati said letting out a bitter smile. "We would get drunk in the secret room behind the picture of the bard under the oak tree, and I would go on and on about it."

"It was more like a hole in the wall, but the bard was funny-"

"Only when we were drunk-"

"He kept our secrets though," Lavender said in defense.

"I'm glad he did- I was slightly terrified he would write a song about me wanting to shag Alicia. . ."

"You drooled over her. It was terrible," Lavender said daring to grin. With a flick of her wand she summoned some elf wine and two glasses from their kitchen. With all that was going on she figured some alcohol would be needed.

"I never consciously drooled over her and at least I had good taste! She was an angel, unlike- who was that bloke you liked fifth year? Ernie Macmillan." Parvati felt her mouth form a wide smile that seemed unnatural because of her frowning moments ago. Although unnatural as it felt Parvati could not deny it felt nice.

"I didn't like him for very long!" Lavender protested in a fit of giggles. "It was just because I had this dream one time-"

"Yes, the infamous Ernie sex dream- the only one I'm sure anyone has ever had of him," she said rolling her eyes. "You're ridiculous," she continued as she watched Lavender pour the wine.

Lavender rolled her eyes back at her and handed her a full glass. "To the good old days," she said raising the glass.

"When everything was simple," Parvati said with a grimace.

And, as Lavender downed her glass she had the distinct feeling that someday they would be talking about Hermione with the same nostalgic fondness as they talked about Alicia and Ernie. The distinct feeling that Parvati would be alright.


	18. Chapter 18

**Another chapter up! Again thanks for everyone who has been reading this story :)**

**Disclaimer- I own nothing- all the characters are Rowling's not mine**

**Enjoy and Review please! Point out any mistakes if you see anything, I would be happy to change it.  
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><p>Parvati Patil stood in front of her vanity brushing her hair off to the side, then adjusting her bangs slightly in front of her face before brushing it off to the side again. She sighed and looked herself in the eye through the mirror. A very nervous indian witch stared back at her with unsure eyes and a small frown. Although she was nineteen years old Parvati hardly felt like she was reaching the end of her teenage years. Today Parvati felt like she was starting them and the anxious expression that pained her face matched one she had worn every morning as she got ready for class at Hogwarts in the weeks leading up to the Yule Ball. She had a horrible feeling every morning of hope that someone would ask her and dread that another day would go by without being propositioned. Of course, today she wasn't worried about being asked out because today she was supposed to be breaking up with Hermione. And, instead of wondering if she was pretty enough to be asked, she was wondering how pretty one should really look when they were about to break someone's heart.<p>

It was something she never really thought about before this morning. She wanted to look drop-dead stunning, but did not want to rub it in Hermione's face. At the same time she did not want to look like she did not put any effort into it. She frowned in the mirror and as she did that she heard an owl hoot by her window. She recognized it instantly as Hermione's and went to the sill to let the bird inside. It dropped it's letter in Parvati's hand and starred at her almost curiously as she opened it and read:

Parvati,

I know we were planning on lunch today but something came up at work that I have to take care of. How about tonight I take you out to make up for it? I know it's a little last minute, but I hope you can make it to my place around 7 tonight. Send your reply asap, I'm already making reservations.

-Hermione

Parvati bit her lip as she considered the letter. It was not in her grand plan to break up with her on a date night, but she knew if she did not do it today she may never pluck up the courage. As she was considering what to do, Hermione's owl grew impatient and began pecking at Parvati's finger prompting her to curse and bleed. Still saying fowl words, she mended her cut with a quick spell and grabbed a quill from her bedside table. On the other side of the paper she scribbled that she would be able to make it and signed her name quickly.

Hermione's owl gave a satisfied screech as Parvati stuffed the parchment back in the envelope and tied it to it's leg. Without so much as a second look the owl took off and Parvati went back to her vanity and wondered whether the extra seven hours would be enough to help her decide how to look or what to wear.

x x x

Seven hours later Parvati was walking up the stairs to Hermione's apartment feeling nervous and slightly sick. She had decided to wear a pair of dark, tight jeans and a nice top hoping it was nice enough for wherever they were going and hoping she looked good in it but not too good. When she made it to her floor she smoothed her long straight hair with her hand before knocking on Hermione's door. A second later it was opened quickly by Hermione who slipped her body through the doorway and closed the door swiftly behind her as if she did not want Parvati to see inside.

"Hey," Hermione said smiling and smoothing her skirt. "Ready?"

"Yeah," Parvati replied trying not to stare at her legs. In between her rush to get out of the apartment and her slightly revealing outfit, Parvati was at a loss whether she should inquire about her odd behavior or just gawk. "So you in a hurry or something?" Parvati decided to ask as Hermione took her hand and started leading her down the staircase.

"Well no, actually. It's just. . . I have a surprise for you when we get back and I didn't want you to see it." Hermione looked at her girlfriend and shot her a smile.

"Oh," Parvati said trying to smile back. Hermione looked satisfied with Parvati's attempt and looked back in front of her and Parvati's face fell with guilt. Hermione was obviously trying very hard to fix things between them and all Parvati could think about was how she was going to be able to break up with her after she had made all these preparations. Especially when Hermione seemed so excited about them.

When they got outside they were greeted with a cool night breeze that made Hermione's skirt flutter in the breeze. Parvati internally groaned unable to stop her mind from going slightly to the gutter and hating herself for it. The two went to the alley behind her building and Hermione took out her wand. "Ready?" she asked her getting ready to apparate.

Parvati nodded and the two were whisked away from the alley and transported somewhere Parvati had never been before. There were in a different alley now and as they emerged from it Parvati could immediately identify the street as part of muggle London looking undeniably gorgeous in the night lights.

"So where are we going exactly?" Parvati said looking at Hermione with an eyebrow raised.

Hermione smiled widely and squeezed on her hand. "I'll show you," she said pulling her along. Hermione led her down the street to a street corner where there was a small gate and some steps leading down to a door. Above the door there were lights hanging down a sign that read "The Nifflers."

"The Nifflers," Parvati read as she followed Hermione down the stairs. "I'm not going to lie it looks a little shady. Am I going to be raped and pillaged in there?"

Hermione giggled. "Hardly, Parvati. I heard my coworkers talking about this place. One of the most up and coming wizarding places in the heart of muggle London. I think you'll like it."

When they opened the door they were greeted by a hostess, but Parvati was not paying any attention as to what she was saying. The set up to the place was beautiful. The room was dark, but had a plentiful amount of what looked like the same christmas lights outside. Parvati found it funny that a wizard place like this would rely on muggle inventions to set up the mood, but could not deny that candles wouldn't have quite the same effect. Not everything was muggle though, because the ceiling was bewitched to look like the night sky reminding her of the Hogwart's great hall. There were booths off to the side and tables surrounding a dance floor which was dimly lit giving people enough light to see where they were going, but enough darkness to maintain their privacy. Behind the dance floor was a small stage with a stool, where a man in his late twenties was strumming a guitar and singing a slow song that Parvati did not know.

"We have a reservation under Granger," Hermione told the hostess.

The hostess clicked her tongue and went down her list. "Oh I see right here. If you come right this way- you wanted the booth right?"

"Yeah, that'd be great," Hermione said with a smile as the witch started leading them to their seats- a booth close enough to the center where they could hear and see the stage wonderfully.

"I had a feeling, you'd like it here," Hermione said with a big smile on her face as she looked at Parvati's gawking expression.

"It's just not what I was expecting I guess," Parvati said impressed. "I didn't know you were so hip Hermione."

She grinned back devilishly. "I can be full of surprises. . . my coworkers said it was a nice blend of the muggle and wizarding lifestyle. A kind of in between place. . . I thought you'd find it interesting."

"I do. I love the ceiling it reminds me of Hogwarts," Parvati said looking upwards. "And the atmosphere here is great."

"It's romantic without being overkill. Madame Puddifoot's teashop it is not."

Parvati let out a loud laugh. "The last time I was in Madame Puddifoot's teashop I punched my date."

"What?" Hermione asked amused. "I didn't know you got so violent on dates. Perhaps I should consider myself lucky."

"It was completely justified I promise you. Remember Terry Boot?"

"From Ravenclaw?"

"Yeah that bloke," Parvati said smiling. "Well he asked me out fifth year and brought me there on one of our Hogsmeade trips. It turns out he's a bit of a sexist pig, and well, just a pig in general. He told me the only reason a woman would kiss another woman was to arouse men or something. It's like he couldn't believe lesbianism could exist."

"Well that sounds awfully pig-headed," Hermione said wrinkling her nose. "So you just socked him in the face then?"

"Oh I called him an arsehole first," Parvati said with a smile. "I let him know how mad I was, but he was a bit slow on uptake. I think he didn't realize that a girl would actually dare to hit him and that it would actually hurt if I did," she finished with an eye roll. "In his defense though he didn't know I was bi, so he didn't know I would be so upset."

"I see," she said with a mischievous smile. "Hey do you want to dance while we wait on our drinks?"

"I didn't know we had ordered drinks," Parvati said trying to avoid the question.

"I had some things prepared ahead of time," Hermione said with a grin. "C'mon dance with me?"

"I-" Parvati hesitated but upon seeing Hermione's shining face she relented. "Sure."

"I'll try not and step on your toes I don't want to get socked in the face," Hermione joked oddly light-hearted as she grabbed Parvati's hand and led her to the floor where several other couples were dancing. She twirled her around and pulled her close as the guitar player lightly strummed and sang a different slow song that was foreign to Parvati.

"I doubt you'll step on my toes, you danced just fine at the wedding," Parvati said with a small smile.

Hermione grinned wider and pulled her closer placing her hand a little to low on her waist. Parvati cleared her voice nervously, but Hermione did not seem to notice. The lower Hermione's hand seemed to travel the more on edge Parvati became and she could not but realize the surprise that was awaiting her in Hermione's apartment probably had a lot to do with lingerie and candles. And, as much as Parvati wanted nothing more to give into Hermione one last time, she knew that she would have to stay away from that. She was after all, supposed to be ending things with her. "You know you didn't have to go through all this trouble," Parvati said waving her hand at the place around them.

"I wanted to," was Hermione's short reply. She took a hand off of her waist and brushed Parvati's hair out of her face. "You look perfect tonight," she murmured leaning in, eyes closed, closer to her face. . .

"They got our drinks!" Parvati said noticing suddenly and thankfully that the waitress had brought two very colorful drinks back to their booth.

"Oh," Hermione said sounding a little downhearted. "We can dance a little longer. We don't have to go back right away."

Parvati licked her lips. "I'm actually a little thirsty." In all essence it was not a lie. Since she had picked Hermione up tonight her mouth had been dry and cottony.

Hermione nodded, albeit looking a bit disappointed, led her back to the booth where Parvati sat down and immediately started sucking on the straw of her drink. It was fruity and refreshing with the hint of alcohol.

"Are you okay, Parvati," Hermione asked nervously. "You seem a bit on edge."

"I'm fine."

Hermione decided not to press it and opened the menu that the waitress had left along with their drinks. Suddenly she found the menu very interesting and fingered the corner of it nervously. "Parvati, can I ask you something?"

Parvati furrowed her eyebrows curiously. "Yeah, what is it?"

"How come. . ." she paused and looked up from her menu. "How come you kept it a secret at Hogwarts that you were bi?"

"Um," Parvati pressed her lips together and looked up thoughtfully thankful that she wasn't further questioning her odd behavior. "I think I didn't want that to be my title."

"Your title?"

"Well you know sometimes I felt like the gays there got un-needed emphasis on their sexuality. Like when someone mentioned Zacharias Smith someone else would say, 'oh the gay guy." It was what people knew him for, and I just didn't want me being bi the first thing people thought when my name was mentioned." Parvati sighed. "And it's not like there were very many lesbians there anyway so my dating pool was small and I was not really interested in any of them." She picked up her menu and began looking through it.

Hermione followed suit and instead of fidgeting with it began to look through her dinner options. "Well what about me?"

"Hmm?"

"You were interested in me."

Parvati looked up from her menu and smiled. "You were so stuck in the closet you didn't even realize there was a closet."

"I did eventually," Hermione protested in a bit of a whine. "And you realized it too."

"Well I wasn't sure at first, but I did notice you would stare at me sometimes. . ."

"Was it really that noticeable?"

Parvati raised her hand and tilted it from side to side. "I wasn't really sure you were into me until I got of the shower one time and I was looking in the mirror and saw you glance at me with a very interesting look on your face through the reflection."

"What look?"

Parvati gave her a flirtatious smile. "Like I was everything you wanted and everything you never wanted to want. Then I knew I had you. I was still really nervous though, Lavender and Padma were the only people that knew and I loved my anonymity- not that I expected you would scream it in the Great Hall the next morning. . ."

"Oh. So why did you?"

"Why did I. . .?"

"Seduce me?"

Parvati gave her a stumped look, but before she could respond a waitress came to take their order. While Parvati told her what she wanted Hermione hastily picked the first thing she saw hardly caring what it was. They handed her back the menus and after she left Parvati's expression went back to one of surprise and confusion.

"Because you looked like you wanted to be seduced," Parvati decided with something of a wry smile playing on her lips. "Why are you so curious all of a sudden? Are you mad that I like, took your honor or something?"

"No-"

"Because you sound kinda aggravated-"

"I'm not," Hermione snapped. Parvati slumped back in her seat no longer looking amused. "I'm- I'm sorry," the bookworm stammered looking apologetic. "I just wanted to know why you came onto me in the first place is all."

"A pretty, smart, wonderful girl would look at me everyday like she would have given anything to have me. Why wouldn't I come onto you?" Parvati explained like it was the most logical thing. At the same time she mentally slapped herself for saying that. Should she really be complimenting someone she was planning to break up with soon?

"Well, you know it took you awhile. . ." Hermione trailed not sounding very convinced by her explanation.

"Awhile?" Parvati asked getting heated for some reason. The real reason was maybe all of this- Hermione trying to take her on a date when Parvati was trying to break up with her. "It took you _awhile_ to break up with Ron."

"Ron's one of my best friend's."

Parvati guffawed and Hermione glared.

"I've never once showed disdain for Lavender-" Hermione reasoned.

At that comment Parvati burst out laughing and when she managed to stop she sneered, "Oh right I forgot the part when you two were best buddies for seven years. . ."

"I saved her life," Hermione snapped. "She would be dead if it wasn't for me!"

"And you would be a soul-less shell if it wasn't for me," Parvati said coldly. "Now what is this all about?"

There were interrupted however by the server brining them their dishes. Parvati's eyes however never left Hermione much to her discomfort, and Hermione unwillingly looked back after the waitress left.

Hermione took a deep breath. "It's about that the only reason you came on to me was because you felt you owed me something for saving your best friend. And, I asked you not to tell Lavender so Lavender could never repay me on her own so you felt you had to do something."

"Oh well wow," Parvati said her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You make me sound like a complete arse. That's real, real nice. What's even nicer," Parvati continued nonchalantly picking up her fork and knife as she began to cut through her meat with a little too much force, "is that the only reason you came onto me was because I was pretty and you thought I was too much of a ditz to have any real problems. The only reason you came onto me was because I looked like a pretty, happy, go-lucky girl whose major daily concern was how I would do my hair that morning. And, that," Parvati grimaced as her knife cut through her steak and hit the plate beneath it loudly, "is insulting." She plopped the bite of steak in her mouth and stared back at Hermione chewing slowly.

Hermione had to confess she looked more than a bit intimidating, but decided to take advantage of her mouth being occupied. "You're wrong-"

"I'm not," Parvati objected with a mouthful. She swallowed somewhat painfully and pointed her fork at Hermione as she talked. "You're just as much of a selfish git as me Hermione. But, you're right I am probably wrong because there was more to it- we were both horny. There- I said it- we were both horny and I had been dreaming about women since I was twelve and you were feeling bold and experimental. So hate me Hermione, I took advantage of a situation. A pretty girl looked like she wanted to fuck me so I seduced her. Does that answer your question?"

Hermione face went oddly expressionless much to Parvati's surprise. She took a sip of her drink and looked up at Parvati still not revealing what emotions were stirring inside of her. "It does," she answered her voice eerily even.

Parvati felt her face grow hot, a little embarrassed at how riled up she got while Hermione was staying far too cool about what she just said. Parvati sighed, "Hermione," she said softly reaching out a hand.

Hermione removed her hand from the table. "No, it's okay I understand now."

"Look Hermione," Parvati said softly. "I mean why beat around the bush you know how it started. I mean after the memorial we were both a little sad and emotional. You had just broken up with Ron and I was still really grateful you had saved Lavender's life. We were both still sad and contemplative about the war and we wanted some comfort- so we comforted ourselves. I mean I cared about you. . . I- I didn't just drop you the next morning."

"No," Hermione said quietly looking down as if refusing to look at her old schoolmate. There was emotion in her voice now- Parvati was well aware. It sounded hollow and defeated, but mostly heart-broken. "You didn't drop me the morning after, you're dropping me five months after when you've been comforted enough. But, I still need you. I know we've had our problems and I've treated you unfairly. . ." Hermione swallowed and looked up at the first woman she ever loved, "but are you really going to leave me?"

"I- I," Parvati stammered looking guilt-stricken and slightly sick.

"it was so obvious when I got your letter that you were ending it. That you were just giving me a few days to get used to the idea so it would be easier when it happened. So I- I lied and said I had some ministry stuff to take care of. My plan was to take you on a great date to discourage it from happening. To put if off to another day, but. . . I mean I really tried to just be the best I could be and make you want to stay with me, but it all seemed so fake and I knew it was only a matter of time. . ."

"Hermione-"

"I just wanted to make you want me again," she continued rambling, her eyes starting to slightly water. "I wanted to know why you wanted me in the first place, so I could maybe recreate that, and then I acted like an biggot and we started arguing, and I hate it when we argue-"

"Hermione-"

"I'm not asking you to not break up with me," Hermione continued with a tone in her voice like she was going to stop rambling and get to the point. "But I'm asking you for one more night. I'm not expecting to change you mind and I know you won't. I understand why you're leaving me, but I just want to have you one more time."

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Parvati asked in hesitantly. "Won't it be a bit like pouring salt on the wound?"

"Please, Parvati."

Her voice was earnest and her eyes were wide and shining. It would break her even more to refuse her so cautiously Parvati asked, "Are you sure?"

Hermione gave a firm, serious nod and before Parvati could change her own mind she answered. "Alright, one more night," she said trying not wonder if she was really doing this for Hermione or for herself.


	19. Chapter 19

**Alright, well here's the next installment. As always I don't own these characters or anything else Harry Potter. Thanks again for the reviews and story updates I really never expected to get past twenty reviews because I figured no one really cared about Hermione and Parvati fics but I'm glad some of you seem to be enjoying it :) I've enjoyed writing it.**

**Again feel free to point out any noticeable grammatical errors, I wanted to get this out asap since I know it's been awhile since I've updated so I only read it over a couple times.**

**Please review!  
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><p>Dinner was a little quiet after that. Hermione mostly moved the mashed potatoes around with her fork with a look of utmost concentration while Parvati developed the habit of biting on the end of her straw looking quite helpless.<p>

"So. . ." Parvati offered awkwardly not knowing where to go from there after ten minutes of silence.

Much to her surprise Hermione looked up with a small kind smile. "So. . ." she repeated back. "What do you feel like talking about?"

"Umm," Parvati licked her lips trying to think of something. "What are you thinking about? Well, besides the obvious," Parvati interjected last minute before taking a sip from her beaten down straw.

"Besides the obvious which, of course, is you," Hermione stated matter-of-factly, "I was thinking about when I trapped Rita Skeeter in jar."

Parvati choked on her drink and started coughing loudly, grabbing her napkin to try and keep her attack civil. "Wha- what?!" she wheezed.

Hermione gave her a bemused expression wiping some sprayed butterbeer off of her arm. "It was fourth year. It's not like it was last week or something."

"Silly me," Parvati said as she wiped a tear from her eye as she finally controlled her coughing attack. "Of course you trapped a grown witch in a jar in fourth year. Everyone was keeping people in jars in fourth year. . ."

Hermione laughed openly. "It sounds worse than it is."

"Really?"

Hermione nodded, looking coyly at her old classmate. "First off, she wasn't a grown woman- well she's an anigmus and I caught her when she was in her other transformation-"

"Wait!" Parvati exclaimed, realization dawning on her face. "Was she that bug that you had with you the last few days of term? Ugh Hermione, Lavender and I were talking about killing that thing-"

"Oh she was a beetle, and well, there are worse tragedies, but I would have been a little upset being responsible for her and all-"

"How?" Parvati asked thunderstruck. "Why?"

"Besides the fact that she is in general a god-awful woman? She heard a very private gathering of friends after Harry was brought back to the hospital wing after the final task. And I saw her listening on the windowsill and I had a hunch already that she was some kind of beetle so I just-" Hermione slapped her hand down on the table and Parvati gave her an astounded look verging on worried. "I just grabbed her and she dared not transform because Dumbledore was in the room- and put her in an unbreakable jar as soon as I could. I told her she would no longer be writing stories or rumors about Harry and me or else I would inform the ministry that she was an unregistered anigmus. Worked quite well, actually."

"Hermione," Parvati said looking at her as if she were crazy. "That's blackmail! That's illegal-"

"Well so was sneaking into Hogwarts undetected-"

"And you kept her in a jar! I'm pretty sure that's illegal too. Hermione that's really bad. That's abduction!"

"For doing something so terrible," Hermione said with a smug look on her face, "you sound really impressed."

"Well I am a little," Parvati admitted. "But why were you thinking about that?" Parvati asked with a mischievous grin. "You're not planning to keep me in a jar are you?" Parvati could not help but notice that he voice did sound a little worried.

"Completely different situation," Hermione waved it off. "You're not an anigmus."

"Like the smartest witch I know couldn't turn me into a beetle if she wanted to-"

"I wouldn't turn you into a beetle I would turn you into something a little cuter. . . like a lady bug or a firefly."

"Oh how thoughtful," Parvati said sarcastically as Hermione grinned.

"Don't worry about it. I would never do that you. . . turn you into a bug I mean. But, abduction isn't quite off the table yet."

Parvati snorted.

"I would keep you tied up in my closet-"

"Oh really I didn't think you were the bondage type."

Hermione gave her a bitter smile. "Well we still got one more night together. I could get kinky," she finished wrinkling her nose.

Parvati couldn't help but let out a small laugh that seemed to turn suddenly bitter.

One more night together. It seemed so final, so complete, so done. Perhaps Parvati half-expected this with Hermione. Hermione was a planner- she liked to know when things were starting and ending so this was typical Hermione behavior especially since she never really got to decide when things were starting. Now she was certainly deciding when and how things were ending. Perhaps that was another reason why Parvati was going along with this. Because in her heart she knew that Hermione needed this finality-Hermione needed to know as they spent their last night together that it was indeed their last night together. Perhaps, it shouldn't have surprised her that Hermione preferred to do it in a way that was so melancholy and sad. Hermione did like to dwell on her problems- she had an unhealthy aptitude for nurturing her pain and keeping that pain to herself.

In all of the unhealthy mourning processes Hermione seemed to have ritualized a style all her own. It was beautiful and sad, hellbent but hopeful. She did not know how Hermione coped with all of it- except in a way she had not coped at all.

"So what are you thinking about?" Hermione asked hesitantly noticing Parvati's smile had steadily fell flat.

Parvati looked up at Hermione's face and sighed. Of course she would go through with tonight. Hermione would always be special- it's the general package that comes with being the first. "I was thinking about you."

"What about me?" Hermione smiled almost teasingly.

"I was thinking about you and tonight."

"Get your head out of the gutter," Hermione attempted at humor, but Parvati gave her a vain smile.

"I really am glad that we. . ." Parvati gestured broadly between the two of them, "that we had something for awhile."

Hermione lips curved into a warm smile. "We still have a few more hours." Her hand reached out across the table and she squeezed the Indian witch's fingers.

Parvati nodded feeling a small tug on her stomach as she answered oddly reminding her of the first date jitters. . . or the first time she had taken Hermione's clothes off. "Alright then let's not waste it- let's get out of here."

Ten minutes later they had apparated in the alleyway outside Hermione's apartment complex. It was hard for Parvati to express how she was feeling. Hermione glanced at her and gave her a confused look.

"You look nervous," Hermione teased grabbing her hand and intertwining her fingers with her own.

_Nervous_, Parvati reasoned in her mind. That seemed like a viable explanation of her mood.

"I didn't know I made you nervous," Hermione continued with a corky grin as she opened the door to the building and led her inside.

"You don't. . . normally," Parvati said trying to smile, but her mouth felt oddly cottony. She was never this nervous after being together with someone for so long and was kicking herself for being so now of all times. Now she needed to be suave and flawless, not a blubbering shaking idiot. She reminded herself as they made their way up the stairs that they had done this multiple times and idly wondered when the role reversal had begun- if anyone was ever nervous about them being together it was Hermione.

"Hey Hermione," a man that Parvati recognized as her neighbor met them as they walked down the hall. Considering that the last he had seen her she was throwing a tantrum at a door she expected the amused expression she received from him as Hermione greeted him in return. What she did not expect was that once Hermione turned the other away, he shot Parvati a thumb's up sign and an impressed look before he bounded down the stairs to enjoy his Saturday night.

Hermione took out her wand after quickly surveying the hallway and undid the magical locks on her door before pulling Parvati inside with her. It was dark, but Hermione flicked her wand and a dozen candles scattered around the apartment lit up. There were more on the floor leading to her bedroom. The bookworm scratched the back of her neck and looked at her old schoolmate sheepishly. "It's a bit much. . . I went a little overboard."

Parvati could not help but let out a small giggle. "It's sweet. . . a little corny but sweet."

"Not too much?" Hermione asked with a hopeful grin.

"Not too much."

"It's a good thing I didn't use the rose petals like I was going to, that might have pushed it over the edge."

"You thought of everything didn't you?"

"I even bought elf wine. . ."

"No alcohol. I want to remember this night."

Hermione did not say anything but snaked an around her waist and pulled her close to her and attempted to carry her. At first Parvati had to admit it was a little sexy and then Hermione stumbled a step and the two fell to the floor.

"I think you need to do more push-ups before sweeping another women off her feet," Parvati giggled as she rubbed her arse which had collided with her lover's knee as they stumbled down. "Or am I just getting fat?"

"You," Hermione said nestling her nose in Parvati's hair and prompting the Indian witch to sit in her lap, "are perfect."

Parvati turned her head so she was facing Hermione and watched as the fire from the candles reflected in her eyes. "Will you be okay?" she asked quietly. She was asking about the future and saw that Hermione was determinedly avoiding thinking about it and was annoyed at her for bringing it up. Although, in her heart of hearts Hermione was expecting Parvati to bring it up again. "You're not going to do anything stupid, are you? Anything rash?"

"The last time I did something stupid and rash I ended up losing you and almost having my soul sucked out of my mouth. Do you think I'm going to do anything stupid?" Hermione asked sarcastically.

"Hermione, please. I'm serious."

Hermione licked her lips and looked determinedly back at her. "I'll take care of myself. I promise." She kept the eye contact until Parvati seemed satisfied and nodded in response.

"It's funny how things work out," Hermione said conversationally resting her chin and Parvati's shoulder. "Out of all the people at Hogwarts I would have had a cow if someone told me first year that I would have fallen the hardest for you."

Parvati snorted. "Surely I wasn't that bad."

"You and Lavender made more than a few unnecessarily mean comments about my hair when you thought I wasn't listening."

"Well you told Hannah Abbott in herbology one time that I was dumber than a mountain troll."

"You heard that?" Hermione asked in genuine surprise.

"I was gonna ask to borrow your extra pair of gloves. . . needless to say I borrowed someone else's."

"Were we really that mean to each other?"

Parvati shrugged. "It sounds worse than it was I think. I mean we did end up falling in love, the permanent damage of pre-teen tiffs couldn't have been that bad."

"So you didn't make me fall in love with you just to break my heart to get revenge for the mountain troll comment?" Hermione teased.

"I'm no where near that diabolical. Try Lavender."

Hermione laughed and nestled her nose on her fellow witch's neck. Parvati shivered and her lover pulled her closer. "When I started falling for you I never imagined that I would ever get to have you. . . and I never imagined if I did get you that you would want me again the next morning."

"You never give yourself enough credit Hermione," she murmured in response as she felt a hot tongue graze her neck.

Hermione chose to ignore that comment and continued, "I never even dreamed of more than a night and I end up having you for five months. It's funny how things work out. . ."

Then her lips found Parvati's jawbone and she delicately rubbed upwards towards a set of wonderfully soft lips that vibrated with a moan when she touched them. The kiss was slow and tender. It was vibrant and new while still being old and familiar. Parvati moaned again and Hermione responded by opening the kiss and tugged on the bottom of Parvati's shirt which was roughly pulled off of her body.

"Want to go to the bed?" Hermione asked breathily resting her head against the other woman's.

Parvati kissed her in response and pulled herself to her feet, grabbing Hermione's hands and leading her towards the bedroom. Parvati planted herself on the bed and Hermione bounded on top of her grinding her body against hers as she kissed her. This was a night Hermione would always remember. The frantic nature of the whole situation almost reminded her of her first kiss with Ron during the Battle of Hogwarts- all her uncertainty and worry was poured into that single act with Ron. As if she unloaded all the pain, hope, and agony of that moment into one physical expression, but Ron never really caught onto that- he only caught on to the lust. What he never understood was Hermione was afraid of dying alone that day and it was her way of saying good-bye to someone she cared deeply for in case she did.

This kiss with Parvati was different though. There was no evil wizard out for bloodlust, there was no battle ensuing, no fear for of dying within the next few hours. . . there were just memories of the past, a hope for the future, and a beautiful girl that made her want to get better just so she would be proud. With each little ministration of affection Hermione was trying to say she would be okay, if only just for her.

Parvati unhooked her own bra and brushed it aside before she started to pull Hermione's shirt off over her head. Parvati pulled back her bra and began to hungrily divulge herself into her lover's chest, savoring the feel of breast's against her face and the feel of a hard nipple in her mouth.

"Parvati," Hermione groaned.

Parvati's only response was to suck harder causing Hermione to cry out in pleasure and Parvati to pull back in surprise. "Too much?" she asked worried. "Are you okay?"

Hermione let out a small laugh and began kissing her chest making her way down to her belly Parvati's belly. She undid the belt of her fellow Gryffindor's pants, as well as the button and zipper and started to pull them down. Parvati helped her shrug them off and grabbed Hermione's skirt and pulled it down along with her thong.

"I win," Parvati smirked. "I always get you naked first."

"Do you know what you win?" Hermione teased touching her mounds of arousal underneath her thong.

Parvati opened her mouth looking ready to say a smart-ass comment, but Hermione found the right spot at the right moment and Parvati's smarmy retort became an incoherent whimper instead. She continued rubbing Parvati's clit through the soft fabric, feeling her own throb with want and attention, but she could wait to fulfill her own needs. At the moment Parvati was starting to writhe a little in enjoyment and there was nothing Hermione loved more than watching her.

"Hermione," Parvati groaned and her hands went to her own thong to slide it off, but Hermione grabbed her wrists before she could.

"Patience," Hermione reminded her softly, "is a virtue."

Parvati swore, but let her have her way and brought her hands to her chest where she began to grope her own breasts as a way to keep them occupied. Hermione smirked and brought her face down to Parvati's still covered folds that were steadily wetting the fabric of her thong. Hermione began to kiss the fabric rubbing her lips and face against it making her moan. There was something about the way Parvati smelled that always sent her off the edge. She always smelled so fresh and tasted so sweet and sour. She slipped her tongue underneath the fabric and tasted her lover, teasing her with a soft graze before she pushed in harder enjoying the feel, scent, and taste. Parvati moaned deeply, rocking her pelvis in unison with Hermione's movements. Her eyes were closed in that way Hermione loved, her brow was furrowed as if the enjoyment was too much to handle, and her hand went to Hermione's hair smoothing it out as if to prompt her to continue.

There was something about the way Hermione made love that put her in a league of her own. It was as if each different movement meant something significant, as if she collected every moan and whimper Parvati elicited and stored it away in her memory of things she never wanted to forgot. It was then that Parvati had realized what Hermione had said one time was true- Hermione truly loved making love to her. She wanted nothing more than to do the things that made Parvati groan and scream until she came and would wait patiently and studiously until it was her turn to receive some attention. Parvati vaguely wondered, as her body began to culminate closer and closer towards her release if she could ever find anyone who would want her body as much as Hermione did.

"Hermione," Parvati groaned biting her lip to keep from screaming.

Hermione did nothing but mumble something in Parvati's lips that only added a wonderful vibrating sensation to graze her already sensitized clitoris. Parvati's noises were becoming louder and more frequent and Hermione thanked Merlin that her neighbor was out since she had forgotten to do a silencing spell. It would have been something he would have never let her live down.

"Hermione!" Parvati practically screamed. Confession time: Hermione loved hearing her name in bed, especially when Parvati said it. It did nothing more but prompt her to continue to loll her tongue around Parvati's sex in vigorous, keen movements, to feel the way her legs would start to shake and feel the way her stomach would contract and flex in enjoyment in a way that was purely sexual. Hermione was still performing when Parvati came: Parvati let out one last spectacular groan before her body freezed and for a moment became completely silent. When her body moved again it was not in vigorous wanton movements, but in a relaxed smooth way as if she were riding the waves of what must have been an earth-shattering orgasm. Her moans and whimpers came back but in a subdued begotten way as if she could not help but let out a sound so her lover would know how grateful she was. Then her eyes opened again and she looked at Hermione in that way she loved- like she was the happiest woman in the world just because Hermione was there experiencing this with her.

After a few moments the Indian witch let out an exhausted sigh and let her head fall back on the pillow, breathing deeply with a satisfied smile on her face.

"Well I guess we don't need this anymore," Hermione said fingering the sides of Parvati's thong. Parvati chuckled as she moved her body so Hermione could remove the rather soaked piece of clothing that she tossed to the floor with the other scattered piles.

Parvati was still resting contently when Hermione almost timidly reached out to stroke her leg softly. Parvati peered at her in interest.

"It's okay if you say it. . . quite honestly I never really got tired of hearing it from you and I'm gonna miss it," Parvati said sincerely.

Hermione sighed but looked at her with a small smile, before her eyes traveled back to her body and then back to her face again. "You have to be the most beautiful girl in the world Parvati."

Parvati gave her a small smile before pulling her down next to her. She kissed her passionately tasting herself on Hermione's lips before she answered, "Second to you, of course."

Hermione chuckled, but deepened the kiss rather than argue loving the feel of Parvati's bare body against her own running her hands across the smooth skin of her arms, back, and thighs. When the kiss ended she trailed the tip of her nose tracing Parvati's neck and whispered, "Why can't we just stay like this forever?"

Parvati shivered as Hermione kissed her ear. "Because time doesn't work that way."

Hermione groaned in agreement.

"You know I'm sorry," Parvati said suddenly sounding worried and breaking the mood. "I hope you don't hate me for this later. . ."

"Hate you for. . ."

Parvati gestured between the two of them. "This is hardly proper etiquette when breaking up with someone."

"Right," Hermione said almost laughing. "Proper etiquette is screaming at each other and saying hurtful and callous things. Really, Parvati, _this_ is the best break-up I've ever had."

"Right now, what about in the morning?" Parvati hedged. "What am I supposed to say that justifies sleeping with you then leaving you? How are you not going to resent me after this?"

Hermione sighed and furrowed her eyebrows in concentration. "Look, you don't have to say anything-"

"But-"

"Listen, just leave when you wake up. And. . . I would never hate you. I brought this whole night on, if it's anyone who should be mad at anybody it's you who should be angry with me. I'm the reason our relationship never worked-"

"Hermione-" Parvati interjected.

"Don't stop me Parvati. It's true. You were never the problem- I was the one keeping secrets and stringing you along. . . I was the unstable, inconsistent partner," Hermione said hardly. "I understand why things are ending between us."

"You understand it, but you don't like it."

"You don't like it either," Hermione said pointedly. "One day," she continued slowly, "I'll see you walking down the street or buying a cup of coffee. . . and I won't hate you or be unhappy or want to cry, I'll just be content that if it wasn't for you maybe I would have never tried to get help."

Parvati sighed. "You know Lavender said the same thing. . . that you would understand someday."

"Well, I've always been rational," Hermione said giving her a wane smile. "And Lavender's always been psychic," she could not help but add with a snort. "Now please let's talk about something else. . . like how sexy you look when you cum."

Parvati gave her a small smile. "Well I'm sure not as sexy as you look. . . but it's been awhile so I think I need to see it again. . ."

"You sure you're up for the task?" Hermione said feigning serious. "It's not easy to make me orgasm."

Parvati let out a loud laugh. "You cum faster than a forty-year old virgin on his wedding night."

"Ouch. Well I'm not going to let that get me too down. I'll blame my quickness on your amazing skills in bed."

"Well I do have skills. . ."

"Although they are mostly becoming routine by now," Hermione wrinkled her nose and looked at her trying not laugh at her own joke.

"I can mix it up," Parvati pouted.

"Is that a promise?" Hermione teased.

"It's a warning. I _was_ saving this for a special night and this seems to be it."

Hermione grinned as Parvati started lightly biting and kissing her neck situating herself on top of the bookworm and holding Hermione's hands above her head. With one hand firmly holding Hermione's wrists in place she fumbled her other hand searching the floor blindly for her pants with her wand in it. Once she found it she gave Hermione a wink and muttered a spell that her lover couldn't hear but could figure out what it was because instantly Hermione's wrists became bounded together above her head as if by an invisible cord. She struggled with the bonds a bit surprised by her boldness, and felt her stomach drop with sexual apprehension, curiosity, and want.

Parvati smirked as she watched her struggle and lowered herself closer to Hermione's body, slipping a hand to gently massage her clit causing her prisoner to whimper. While keeping her steady hand job going she licked and sucked her way around Hermione's chest working up her neck until she was gently nibbling on Hermione's ear. "Want to know a secret?" she purred.

Hermione let out an exceptionally loud whimper and she felt Parvati's lips curve into a smile on her neck. As she quickened the pace and the quality of work her fingers were doing around Hermione's folds, she whispered rather raggedly, "I've always wanted to tie you up."

The rest of the night was a blur. A fantastic wonderful dream that seemed to mix with reality with each soft kiss and each rough demonstration of affection. Parvati could not help but agree with Hermione- this was the best break-up she had ever had too. Of course the night had to end sometime and around two in the morning their eyes slumped to a close as Parvati hugged Hermione's bare body from behind, nestling her nose in the crook of her back and smelling her hair as she fell asleep.

Parvati woke sometime after dawn and detangled herself from her ex-lovers body. With the minimal light that entered the room from the sun she got up and rummaged through the clothes on the floor pulling them on her body slowly and silently as to not awake the sleeping witch. Remembering that her shirt had been discarded somewhere in the hallway the night before she made a move to leave the room before she hesitated and looked back at the bushy-haired woman on the bed. Although she looked perfectly asleep to Parvati, Hermione had woken up moments after Parvati and was well aware (even though she kept her eyes shut) through the sounds she was making that Parvati was getting ready to leave.

Hermione could almost hear Parvati hesitate before she quietly tip-toed back to the bed and hovered over her before laying a gentle kiss on her forehead as she whispered, "Sweet dreams." She then turned her heels and walked out the room stopping for a second to bend down and pet a prowling Crookshanks. Hermione opened her eyes a slit in time to see her stand back up and retreat out of her view. A few seconds later Parvati must have found her shirt because there was a small pop and Hermione knew that she was alone.


	20. Chapter 20

**So, this is the last chapter, after thinking of a few ways to end it this was how I decided to. Sorry for the late update again, I've had a very busy schedule lately but I'm glad that some of you are still reading and hopefully enjoying it. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the reviews, or favorites, or signing up for story updates. I never really expected to get past twenty reviews because no one really cares for this pairing, but I hope I've convinced some of you how truly sexy Hermione and Parvati are together (20x better than Hermione and Ron). **

**I might put this couple away for awhile and was thinking of doing a couple of other one-shots or fics with Katie and Alicia (Quidditch girls are sexy) or Hermione and Ginny, but I'm not making any promises. My classes this semester have proven to be stressful and I do work retail and the holiday season is coming up so I'll try to write more, but it might get put on hold. **

**Again thank you, thank you, thank you for reading, and please review!**

* * *

><p>"Why did we even come anyway?" Parvati asked smoothing her pleated black skirt as she sat in her seat noticing many familiar faces from her Hogwarts years. "We never went to any of the memorials except for that first year." There were at the Battle of Hogwarts Ceremony a bit early and were sitting down in one of the many rows of white chairs that were steadily being filled. In front there was a small make-shift stage with a podium and a panel behind, no doubt where the Minister of Magic, the Hogwarts Headmistress, as well as some honored guests would be. Parvati idly wondered whether Hermione would be up there or if she opted to remain in the crowd. Of course the first year she had sit with the crowd, but six years had passed and she had gained prestige in the ministry in addition to being an important part in bringing Voldemort down.<p>

"Because it's the seventh anniversary, and we're both superstitious about the number seven," Lavender answered with assuredness. "And, because Padma is coming with her fiance from India and neither of us has met him yet."

"He's not her fiance yet," Parvati argued pointedly. "They've only been dating for six months."

Lavender snorted. "Are you kidding me? The way she talks about him. . . I bet they're going to be engaged by the end of the year.

"Maybe. . . but I don't see why we have to meet him here."

Lavender sighed. "Because every foreigner who has never seen Hogwarts finds the Battle of Hogwarts the most interesting modern day event to ever take place. And to visit Hogwarts on the anniversary of the fight when the memorial is taking place and a handful of people who fought in the war gather to talk about their stories. . . well her boyfriend's a bit of a history buff. What do you expect he teaches history of magic? I wouldn't be surprised if he takes a rock laying around on the grounds and takes it back to show his students. . . And we're here maybe because I ran into Ginny the other day and she said Seamus comes every year."

Parvati sighed. "Tell me why Seamus again? I mean it's like a relapse with you, every couple of years you just go back to him."

"Just for the sex," Lavender corrected her immediately.

"Right, that makes it so much better," Parvati said rolling her eyes and fidgeting with her skirt.

Lavender laughed appreciatively. "I don't know why you're so nervous. There's a ton of people here you probably won't even talk to her."

"What are you talking about, I'm not nervous to see my twin sister."

"I wasn't talking about your sister. . ." Lavender said with a knowing smile. "It's always a little awkward bumping into an ex but it'll be fine. I'm actually surprised you never saw her since that night."

Parvati's face fell. "It just never happened." Besides seeing her face on the occasional gossip magazine or in the Daily Prophet discussing ministry business or doing some press event with Ron and Harry, Parvati had not seen Hermione Granger in six years. Sometimes the only way she knew that her and Hermione's relationship had not been some crazy fantastic dream was because when Harry landed himself in St. Mungo's Ginny found it in herself to reside there as long as Harry was. And, even though Harry was never in her ward, Ginny always found a way to bump into Parvati and have a quick chat reminding her that once upon a time she had been a bridesmaid at the Potter wedding solely because she was dating the maid of honor. Not that she was complaining- Ginny was always nice and pleasant only bringing up Hermione when Parvati asked which was nearly every time. Sometimes she wondered if Hermione put Ginny up to finding her and making small talk just so she would know how Parvati was doing. Sometimes she half-hoped Hermione did because it was working. Parvati would find herself owling Ginny out of the blue just to see how Hermione was because Ginny was always honest about her best friend's ups and downs.

"I'm kinda surprised you never hooked up with her again," Lavender said conversationally breaking into Parvati's reverie.

"Hmm?"

"I guess when it was a year and you still had not gotten over it, I thought you would-"

"I got over it-" Parvati interjected curtly.

"It just took awhile. . . I kinda expected you to get back together with her. And, you kept owling Ginny-"

"I'm friends with Ginny," she said in defense.

"I know," Lavender said sounding a little surprised. "I just. . . how come you never got back with her?"

"You wanted me to break up with her," Parvati said her voice rising suddenly becoming very irritated.

"I wanted what was best for you-"

Parvati snorted and shook her head disdainfully, her eyebrow twitched menacingly. "You don't even know."

Lavender gave her a shocked look, "Know what?"

"She saved your life," Parvati spat like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then her expression changed to an almost surprised one. For one she could not believe that she had just told Lavender after all those years, two she could not believe she had really kept that from her all this time.

Lavender gapped at her. "She- she did what?"

"Well-" Parvati hesitated.

"When?!"

"Well the battle. . ."

"I figured the battle," Lavender said unbelieving. "Was it. . . was it Greyback?"

Parvati nodded.

"Huh," Lavender slumping back into her seat as if it were too much effort to process that with good posture. Her hand gradually grazed the scars on her lower jawbone- the one's that were barely visible because she had become so good with covering them up with make-up over the years "So how come you never told me? You've obviously known for awhile."

"She, uh, she asked me not to," Parvati said lamely.

"Seven years you don't tell me this," Lavender said sounding surprised. "You must have really liked her."

Parvati sighed and took a deep breath, "Maybe."

"Really," Lavender asked sounding curious. "You never wanted to get back together with her?"

"Well, I wanted to for awhile," she answered honestly, "but I would always second-guess it. . . Whenever Ginny would say she was having a hard time I wanted nothing more than to go and see her and I did plan on seeing her but I always made an excuse before I did. That the timing wasn't right, or something else would come up and the opportunity slipped by. . ." Parvati shook her head. "And, before I know it it's been years since I've seen her and she's moved on. I couldn't just barge in on her life and turn back the clock. What was I supposed to say?"

"Do you still miss her?"

Parvati shrugged. "Every now and then. I mean I'm over it. I'm with John now and I do love him. I think it's just one of those things you wonder about sometimes. . . how different would my life be if I had stayed with her?"

Lavender nodded.

"We probably would have broken up anyway within the year. We were having trouble after five months and there was a lot of stress. . . Ginny said it took three years for her to be able to manage a steady relationship. But, I don't know, she was the first I just wonder how it would have ended up if we got together at better timing. Maybe we could have been something."

"Well are you going to talk to her today?" Lavender hedged. "I mean you know she'll be here she is every year."

Parvati sighed. "The last time I was with her I had her tied up and I was shagging her brains out. Now we're over each other and she has her girlfriend and I have John. . . imagine how awkward it would be. Do you think I'm gonna talk to her?" she asked with an eye roll.

"You did have an odd break-up. I don't know many people that have break-up sex with the person they're breaking up with."

Parvati groaned. "I think it had something to do with being a horny teenager. I can't see that ever happening again."

"See what happen again?" a familiar voice from behind asked. Parvati recognized it instantly as that of her twin sister and spun her head around to see her and a very tall blond haired wizard holding her hand as they walked up to them maneuvering through the isle of seats.

"Padma!" Parvati exclaimed standing up to see her sister and greet her with a tight hug. Padma gave her a tight squeeze back.

"This is Michael," she said introducing the blond behind her, who squeezed past the row of chairs to greet Parvati and Lavender. "And, this is Parvati and Lavender."

"Well I think I can guess which one is your sister," he joked giving Parvati a hug. After he moved off to the side to greet Lavender, Parvati gave her twin an approving look and mouthed, "He smells good."

To which Padma dismissed with a roll of her eyes and asked, "So is John coming?"

"No, he's at St. Mungo's staying with his mother."

Padma frowned. "What happened this time?"

"Oh you know she is getting old and she messed up another spell that must have backfired. They're trying to figure out which spell she messed up because she can't remember."

Padma frowned, "Well hopefully she recovers soon."

Parvati sighed. "I hope so. John's getting drained, he looks like a zombie after staying at the hospital with his mother so long."

After a few minutes they all settled down and took their seats and waited for the ceremony to begin. After a while, a sound of canon erupted and nine people started making their way to the panel. The Minister of Magic was first followed by a ministry official, Headmistress McGonagall who had not seemed to age a day, a man that Parvati recognized as the head of the auror office followed by Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, an older man that looked strikingly similar to Albus Dumbledore that must have been Aberforth, Professor Neville Longbottom, and the last witch she recognized as the department of magical justice head. She did not know whether to be happy or sad at the apparent absence of Hermione Granger, as the Minister of Magic started his opening speech and began to introduce the panel. However, after he finished introducing the last witch he did motion towards the last empty chair explaining that Hermione Granger, head of the Muggle Abuse Regulation Office, would be joining them shortly as she got held up with some last minute business. . . again. A few of the panel chuckled as well as some of the audience. Apparently it was typical Hermione behavior to be held up at the office and late to these memorials.

Lavender made a funny little noise after he announced her, that Parvati knew was directed towards her. She tried to sit there indifferently as she was before as he announced her imminent arrival, although her heart quickened pace and she became all to aware that for some reason her day had suddenly become magnificently better.

x x x

Parvati endured an hour of speeches and was clapping as the head of the auror department finished his speech on the changes and progress made to his department when she saw a familiar witch come up the side steps and quickly take a seat at the end in her panel chair as discreetly as possible. She was busy taking parchment out of her briefcase and exchanging a few words with the witch next to her, when Parvati could not help but stare trying to piece together what her life may have been like in the past six years by drinking in her appearance. In many ways she looked exactly the same, but she had an air of maturity now and importance. She gathered her papers in a way that was a little less frazzled and a lot more proper. Her hair was longer and curlier, her skin had minimal lines, but lines that Parvati noticed looked like laugh lines more than anything. She was not as skinny as when Parvati last saw her, but it made her far from looking dumpy or thick. If anything it made her look more healthier. From her appearance Parvati concluded that Hermione had kept her promise to her throughout the years- she had not let herself go. She had taken care of herself, and Parvati could not help but smile a bit at that.

Lavender elbowed her best friend in the gut. "It's Hermione," she whispered loudly.

"I noticed," Parvati hissed, wondering why people that matured and grew up still acted like teenagers when they were with their best friend.

"She looks good," Lavender whispered back as if surprised.

A few moments later after the minister said a few more words, Hermione made her way to the podium with a couple of parchments and began her speech on the progress made to the treatment of non-magical people and creatures. It was loads better than her impromptu toast at the Potter wedding, and her voice remained steady as she addressed the crowd, but kept her eyes above the crowd as if to keep from being distracted. In fact, the only time she did mess up was when she made the mistake of looking at the crowd and her eyes gravitated towards a familiar set of dark eyes that she had used to love getting lost in. She was in the middle of her sentence, "So as you can see as we keep making improvements-" when she noticed Parvati sitting there, staring at her and listening, and blanked. For what seemed like minutes but was probably only seconds, Hermione gawked at her looking completely dumbfounded before she hastily looked away and back to her notes. With a quiet laugh and a small blush she uttered a quick, corky apology before she continued as flawless and assured as before, although she directed her head towards the side of the crowd that was Parvati-less.

After that little exchange, Lavender nudged her best friend again. "I think she saw you," she whispered.

To which Parvati looked at her like she was stupid, and muttered back, "No shit, Lav."

When her speech ended Hermione sat down at the panel and tried to look attentive to the next speaker, but Parvati could tell she looked a bit distracted and flustered and consciously avoided looking at Parvati again. After the speeches ended people began to disperse for refreshments or wine. They found some shade underneath an old oak and John started telling them about his work, when Parvati noticed Hermione slip away from the crowd to a wine table.

"Hey I'll be right back, I'm gonna grab some wine," she said to the three of them, feeling oddly nervous.

She cleared her throat when she was a couple of feet behind, and once Hermione was done pouring her glass she cleared her throat again, more loudly this time, and said almost hesitantly, "Hi Hermione."

The effect was instantaneous, the bookworm jumped out of her skin and dropped the glass nearly missing her foot. One hand was clutching her heart as she spun around which she quickly tried to play off as an unnecessary adjustment to her necklace. "Parvati!" she exclaimed in high voice. "I. . . umm," she flustered around a bit before she let out a small laugh. "You scared me," she said her voice dropping down to it's normal level.

"I didn't know I was so frightening," Parvati said with a grin. "Maybe I should wear a bag over my head."

Hermione laughed again lightly with a hint of embarrassment. "You surprised me," she corrected herself. "Now if you wore a bag over your head that would have scared me." She moved her gaze away from Parvati to notice the broken shards of glass on the floor to which she took out her wand and muttered, "Repairo."

"You know it's a shame the wine doesn't end up back in the glass," Parvati said as she watched the shards reconfigure themselves into a flawless piece again.

"Oh, yeah well there's more," Hermione offered with a grin as she turned her back on her so she could grab more off of the table. "Want a glass?"

"No, I'm fine."

"So," Hermione said in a falsely high tone as she turned back to her ex. "It's nice seeing you again."

Parvati _tried _not to act too surprised or offended at the false cheeriness, a tone that Hermione readily used with reporters and during interviews, but was unsuccessful because Hermione seemed to immediately register the mistake by her expression.

"I- I'm sorry. You know- these things are hectic, I end up talking to a lot of people some I barely remember. . ." She started.

"It's fine-" Parvati interjected.

"No, it's really not," Hermione said trying to catch her eye. "It _is_ really nice to see you again," she said sincerely. "I. . . umm. . . well you look really. . . great," she said softly.

Parvati gave her a wane smile. "Always the compliments with you. You look really good too by the way."

Hermione laughed and blushed a little. "So what are you doing here?" she asked changing the subject. "I know you don't usually come. . . you were really upset that first year the memorial really wasn't your kind of thing."

Parvati shrugged. "It's not really your thing either. You don't like to think about it."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I don't really get a choice in the matter. Although the charity dinner after is for a good cause it's about the only reason I bear with it," she said taking a large sip of wine.

Parvati raised an eyebrow.

"Oh don't worry I'm not an alcoholic," Hermione said with a hiccup noticing her expression. "So are you staying for the dinner?"

"No, I have a night shift at the hospital," Parvati said. "And, it's a bit too pricey for my blood anyway," she joked with a smile.

"It is pricey, and full of London's wizarding elite. I swear half of the people that go sided with the ministry and were completely against Harry and Dumbledore when Fudge was still in office," Hermione finished with an eye roll and downed the rest of her glass.

"Well besides dealing with London's rich, pompous jackasses, how have you been?" Parvati asked a little more seriously.

"Oh you know," Hermione said catching her eye. "Better. You?"

"About the same I guess," noticing a good-looking witch with curly hair come up to Hermione from behind.

"I was wondering what was keeping you," the brunette witch said snagging a hand around Hermione's waist. She looked at Parvati with a smile to which Parvati tried to respond with the same friendliness back. Her stomach, however, was in knots for reasons she tried not to understand.

"Oh umm," Hermione hesitated looking from her girlfriend to Parvati, but somehow avoiding to engage in any eye contact. "Jeannette this is, uh. . ." she gestured casually at Parvati. "We were. . ."

"Roommates," Parvati finished for her swiftly. "At Hogwarts," she concluded. Hermione looked up at her with a mixture of awe and relief.

"Oh," Jeannette said smiling. "You never mentioned your roommates before," she said towards Hermione.

"We weren't that close," Parvati interjected still feeling Hermione's eyes on her. "We didn't really like each other for about six years," she added with a laugh.

"That was because you would hide my potions book from me in between classes," Hermione intervened in her defense, finding her voice back.

"That did drive you a bit barmy," Parvati remembered thoughtfully. "So are you two. . . together?" she asked trying to ignore the blatantly obvious sign of the brunette's arm snaking around the bookworm's waist.

"Yeah," Hermione answered as the other woman beamed. "Vati, this is Jeannette. . . Jeannette, Parvati."

She held out her hand and Parvati did nothing but reach out and accept it, noticing all too clearly how Hermione was having a hard time looking her in the eye.

"So how long have you been dating," Parvati asked conversationally wishing she had taken a glass of wine to keep her hands occupied.

"About a year and a half," the brunette answered with a smile. "Listen uh, I hate to interrupt," she said looking between Parvati and Hermione, "but Harry wanted me to tell you that the press is gonna start taking pictures soon so if you want to head over there-"

"I can leave," Parvati said instantly suddenly finding time away from the couple a desirable option.

"No, you still got some time," she replied waving it off. "You know how long these things really can take to start up. I'll let them know you're coming soon."

"That'd be great," Hermione said with a smile and Jeannette planted a kiss on her cheek.

"It was nice meeting you," she said looking back at Parvati before walking back towards the crowds.

"Yeah it was," Parvati agreed, looking her up and down as she walked away, trying to ignore the way her hips would swing back and forth in an almost discreet, but sexy way as if she knew someone was watching. Parvati let her eyes fall back on the bookworm and gave her an impressed look. "Well, she was. . . pretty."

Hermione blushed a little. "She's great."

"And, I'm guessing she doesn't know we dated considering you told her my real name and I didn't get any dirty looks."

Hermione sighed. "We talked about our past relationships and I. . . well I mentioned everyone since Krum except you."

"Oh. . . I was that bad, huh?"

"No of course not!" Hermione exclaimed looking aghast. "I never regretted being with you at all it's just," she hesitated looking suddenly wary of what she was about to say.

"Just what?"

"I just, I liked you the most," Hermione said quietly looking up at Parvati to gauge her reaction which ended up being a confused look. "You know," she continued. "You're the only one I ever wondered about after things ended." She suddenly blushed, a deep flush that Parvati used to love putting on Hermione's face.

In fact, Parvati still relished that she could turn Hermione's face that shade of red. "You're thinking about our break-up sex aren't you?" she asked with a smirk.

"Parvati!" she scolded her face turning redder.

"You are!" Parvati exclaimed in mock surprise. "I see I'm well remembered," she said looking thoroughly proud of how embarrassed she was making her ex.

Hermione shook her head, as if trying very hard not to think of something. "You're hard to forget."

"I hope that's not a bad thing."

This time Hermione looked up and gave her a warm smile. "Of course not Vati. You know I really never got to say thank you by the way."

This time it was Parvati's turn to be a little embarrassed. "For what?"

Hermione hesitated. "You know when I promised you I'd be okay I had every intention of keeping it. Sometimes I think the only way I've stayed sane was because of that."

"But now you have Jeannette now," Parvati offered wondering why she was bringing her into the mix.

"Right," Hermione agreed looking a bit wary.

"So really, though, you're doing good?"

"Well, it's coming along piece by piece. At first it wasn't so great, but after about a year I switched therapists- she's a squib actually. She studied in muggle school, but her parents told her all about the war. It's the best of both- muggles have a better grasp on therapy, but she does know about the wizarding world so I can talk freely about it. It's nice. It was a bit rocky at first, but I mean, I do feel better than before."

"I'm glad you're doing good. Really."

"Me too. So how have you been?" Hermione asked changing the subject for her own sake. "Are you with anyone?"

"I am actually," Parvati said nodding. "His name is John."

"A boyfriend?" Hermione said surprised her eyebrows raising.

"Boyfriend," Parvati sighed clarifying for her. "I swear everyone forgets I'm bi and thinks I only like women-"

"I didn't mean to- you know- I-"

"Don't mention it," Parvati said waving it off.

"How are things going with him?"

"They're going. . . well," Parvati answered her face falling flat at the end.

Hermione noticed the look and hesitation. "It doesn't sound very well."

"No it is, it just occurred to me that I never really told him about you either. I mean I told him I had my first girlfriend right after Hogwarts and everything, but I never _really_ told him. . ."

"What?" Hermione asked noticing her hesitation again.

Parvati shrugged. "Just how special you were I guess."

This time instead of blushing her lips drooped down into a thoughtful frown before a suddenly curious look went on her face that Parvati caught out of the corner of her eye.

"Do you ever miss it?" Hermione asked wonderingly.

"What?" Parvati asked wondering if she really was asking what she thought she was.

"Women," she answered simply.

"Oh right," Parvati said recovering and almost laughing at herself for thinking that Hermione, who was in a long-term committed relationship, was really asking if she missed being with her. "Hmm well," she hesitated trying to find the right words. "It's like, well. . ." She sighed defeated and just answered honestly. "Boobs. Sometimes I really miss boobs."

Hermione snorted loudly and Parvati grinned, as she chuckled and defended herself. "It's true! There's nothing like a nice set of boobs."

Hermione shook her head in what looked like was supposed to be disappointment but was really affection. "I've missed you," she said suddenly, and for the moment the air got thick and she wondered if she really should have said that.

Parvati felt a faint flush go to her cheeks. "I've missed you too," she admitted.

There was a short silence in which Hermione set down her wine glass on the table. "I should probably get going," she said gesturing towards the crowd- the press was definitely evident now that they were trying to get the golden trio together for a picture but were having trouble finding the third member.

Parvati nodded. They hesitated before they took a step forward and gave each other an awkward hug, in which Hermione tried to ignore the flips that her stomach was doing after accidentally smelling Parvati's hair. Vanilla. After all these years she had not changed all that much, and Hermione idly wondered if it was the nostalgia that was making her stomach tie in knots, or something else. She also tried to ignore that this day, exactlly six years ago, she had accompanied Parvati back to their dormitory where she had lied down next to her on her bed and made love to her for the first time. She idly wondering if the same memory was replaying itself in Parvati's mind.

The two detangled themselves from their embrace and Hermione started walking away before she suddenly looked back and gave Parvati a curious look. "Am I. . . am I going to see you again?" she asked slowly. "I mean it's been so long since I've seen you I thought maybe we could catch up. . . a little more."

Parvati was a bit surprised, but pleased when she answered. "Yeah, that sounds great."

Hermione nodded. "I'll talk to you soon." She turned to walk away before she looked back one more time and said almost awkwardly, "I'll owl you."

Parvati nodded and watched Hermione walk away a little dumbstruck, but quickly noticed what an idiot she must have looked like just standing there gawking, so she quickly busied herself at the table grabbing a wine glass and looking through the assortment. As she poured herself a glass she tried not to look too pleased and tried, unsuccessfully, to keep the memory of the night after the first memorial out of her head.

x x x

"It's kinda weird," Lavender said taking a sip of champagne. She had been watching the entire exchange from a distance away as when she went to grab champagne and ran into Ginny. The two could not help but notice the two ex's meet. "The two of them. . . I think they still like each other," she noted as she watched Parvati look after Hermione as she was walking away. "Parvati practically swore she didn't care to talk to Hermione and there she is going right up to her."

Ginny snorted. "Hermione sure likes to insist that she doesn't like her."

"Did you know they had sex and right after they had an agreed breaking up? Who does that?" Lavender asked as if the idea were inconceivable.

"Two people that never really wanted to break up in the first place," Ginny suggested simply.

"Good point."

"You know what their problem was?" Ginny said thoughtfully taking a sip from a glass of wine. "Their timing was wrong. It was all in the timing, and they got one shite bomb after another. The press printed that picture of them, Ron acted like an arse, then the dementor attack, then all Hermione's problems came tumbling out, and this all happened within what? A span of a month or two? "

Lavender hesitated before she asked Ginny, "You talk to both of them still. Do you think they'll ever get back together?"

Ginny shrugged. "I have no idea. I mean Hermione has Jeannette and Parvati has John. . . but, honestly, it's kinda hard to get over your first love. At least I never got over mine- I married him."

"But what about Ron?" Lavender asked with a funny expression on her face. "Hermione dated him before Parvati."

"Eh," Ginny waved it off, "she dated him, but she loved him more like a friend than a soulmate. Besides Ron's not a girl, and Hermione has been solely committed to women since Parvati."

"I guess you're right," Lavender sighed as she watched Parvati discreetly chancing a glance at Hermione every few moments as a distracted Hermione seemed less attentive to her girlfriend who was having a time trying to wrap her arms around the bookworm in between photographs. "Tell me Ginny," she said suddenly and bubbly as if a light had just gone on in her head. She gave Ginny a mischievous grin that made Ginny dread what was about to be asked. "Have you ever played matchmaker?"

Ginny gave her an apprehensive look. "Lavender we really shouldn't-"

"Just answer the question Ginny."

The red head sighed. "No."

Lavender smiled diabolically, and Ginny internally cursed knowing exactly where this was going wondering if she should get involved and even if she wanted to. "Now tell me Ginny," she asked slowly and sultry, "haven't you always wanted to?"

"Lavender," Ginny treaded slowly. "We really shouldn't get involved."

"I'm not talking about controlling their lives, I'm just suggesting a gentle nudge in the right direction," she said simply.

"A gentle nudge?" she questioned skeptically.

"I'll tell you what. If Hermione isn't happier than usual today based on the mere fact that she's seen Parvati we'll let it go."

"Lavender, you're missing a fine line though. Hermione loves her girlfriend- she's been with her over a year," Ginny argued. "And, what about John, doesn't Parvati love him?"

"Eh. . ."

"Eh?"

"She does, but not as much as. . . I think she feels guilty if she were to break up with him because of how sick his mum is."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but that doesn't mean you can go over and destroy Hermione's relationship. Hermione has worked hard on it-"

"Worked hard on it?" Lavender asked with a raised eyebrow. "Do you really have to work _hard_ on loving someone."

Ginny shook her head, and took a step making it apparent that this conversation was over and Ginny was not buying. "No, Lavender let it go," she said sternly before she shook her head again and started making her way towards the crowd to find her husband.

Lavender sighed and watched Parvati watching Hermione with the most peculiar look on her face. It was a look that was content, but oddly wondering, like Parvati was lost in a world a thousand miles away while still being strictly rooted in the moment. Perhaps Ginny was right. Perhaps she should let it go and leave Hermione in the arms of a pretty brunette and leave Parvati to figure out if she really wanted to stay with John. But, just as she was about to, she noticed Hermione pull her eyes away from the throng of people around her to find Parvati standing there staring. Lavender watched the two of them give each other embarrassed, wide smiles and decided, maybe, just maybe, there was hope for them yet.


End file.
